Report: Head of Hamas' military wing involved in Cairo talks
London-based al-Hayat says man directly responsible for Gilad Shalit's wellbeing heading talks for his release. Group's political bureau reportedly willing to compromise on prisoner list, but military wing adamant on release of all 450
The leading commander of Hamas' military wing, Ahmed Jabari, has arrived in Cairo three days ago in order to head the organization's negotiation team in talks over Gilad Shalit's release, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the paper Jabari is the man directly responsible for the Israeli captive's wellbeing, as Shalit is being held by his forces. He is also the man in charge of the list of prisoners Hamas wants freed as part of an exchange.
Other senior leaders involved in the talks on Hamas' behalf are Mahmoud al-Zahar and Nizar Awdallah. Israel is represented by Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin and special envoy Ofer Dekel.
The paper quoted Palestinian sources as saying that indirect talks in the Egyptian capital have been going on for the last three days. The two delegations are reportedly staying in adjacent rooms while an Egyptian mediator is going back and forth between them.
According to the sources, Israel has expressed willingness to release more than 300 of the 450 prisoners on Hamas' list, and has also offered to free older prisoners or prisoners who have already served over 30 years of their sentence.
However, the sources said, "Israel totally objects to the release of prisoners who had been directly involved in attacks that led to the mass killing of Israelis, and also refuses to free east Jerusalemite or Israeli-Arab prisoners, whom it considers to be Israeli citizens."
'Hamas can wait another year'
They added that "Hamas' political is adamant on the release of all prisoners whose names are on the list, and its representatives have already stated they were willing to wait another year for the release of all prisoners."
The sources estimated that the deal could be finalized once Israel agrees to release close to 400 prisoners. Israel reportedly conditioned the deal on the deportation of 90 of the released prisoners abroad, and the expulsion of another 30 from the West Bank to Gaza.
Meanwhile, the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that Hamas completely rejects Israel's deportation demand, but a source in the organization told the paper that it may agree to the banishment of some of the prisoners from the West Bank to Gaza, in order to protect them from Israeli attempts to hit or arrest them.
