Mashaal: Hitch in the plan
Photo: AFP
Mashaal: Ceasefire may suffer delay
Exiled Hamas leader says complication may keep Egypt from announcing Gaza truce deal on Sunday
The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, told AFP on Friday that there was a hitch in Egyptian mediators' plans to announce a truce with Israel in and around the territory this weekend.
"The Egyptians had told us that the announcement of this truce would be made on Sunday but there has been a complication and we don't know if that date will be kept to," Meshaal told AFP without specifying the nature of the problem.
Waiting For Shalit
Roee Nahmias
London-based al-Hayat newspaper quotes Palestinian sources as saying deal securing release of kidnapped Israeli soldier is 'a matter of time'. Sources add declaration on truce between Israel and Hamas expected before Wednesday
The Damascus-based Hamas leader, who had just arrived in the Qatari capital after a mini-tour of regional states deemed sympathetic to his organization, said that the Egyptian mediators were discussing the problem but that he did not believe that the original timetable would be adhered to.
Mashaal's number two Moussa Abu Marzouk had told the Egyptian state news agency MENA late on Thursday that the mediators would announce an agreement on an 18-month truce within 48 hours after Hamas gave it its endorsement.
Abu Marzouk also said kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit would not be included in the agreement. "This is a separate issue and has no bearing on the ceasefire," he said.
A Palestinian source added that any correlation between a possible prisoner swap and the emerging ceasefire would have "complicated" the talks.
Arab press agencies have reported that Israel was willing to release most of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas is demanding in return for Shalit.
Four names still constitute points of contention, among them the mastermind behind the assassination of Minister Rehavam Zeevi, Ahmad Sa'adat.
On Saturday Reuters reported that the Egypt-brokered ceasefire would encompass 18 months. The second stage of talks would include a possible prisoner swap deal.
