Black
04-12-2007, 02:11 AM
Hamas gives Israel soldier swap list (http://islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=13328)
Israel received a list of names of Palestinian detainees Hamas wants to be released in exchange for an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza resistance fighters last June, a spokesman for Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya said.
"These names have been presented to the Egyptian (mediators), who in turn have presented it to the Israeli side," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "There is a clear progress in the fact a list of names has been presented."
But an Israeli cabinet minister and a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah faction, said a deal on the prisoner swap wasn’t imminent.
Barhoum didn’t say how many prisoners were included in the list, nor did he mention any names.
But Israeli media reports said the list included about 1,300 detainees, including Marwan Barghouthi, a Fatah leader widely seen as a possible successor to Abbas, whose party formed a unity government with Hamas on March 17.
Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured on June 25 by three resistance groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, in a cross-border raid. His capture sparked a two-month Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip in which more than 400 Palestinians were killed.
Sources in Olmert’s office confirmed that Israel received the list and said that a ministerial committee would meet in the coming days to decide on whether to loosen criteria for releasing Palestinian detainees in an exchange deal – a change the Israeli cabinet would have to approve.
Israel received a list of names of Palestinian detainees Hamas wants to be released in exchange for an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza resistance fighters last June, a spokesman for Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya said.
"These names have been presented to the Egyptian (mediators), who in turn have presented it to the Israeli side," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "There is a clear progress in the fact a list of names has been presented."
But an Israeli cabinet minister and a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah faction, said a deal on the prisoner swap wasn’t imminent.
Barhoum didn’t say how many prisoners were included in the list, nor did he mention any names.
But Israeli media reports said the list included about 1,300 detainees, including Marwan Barghouthi, a Fatah leader widely seen as a possible successor to Abbas, whose party formed a unity government with Hamas on March 17.
Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured on June 25 by three resistance groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, in a cross-border raid. His capture sparked a two-month Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip in which more than 400 Palestinians were killed.
Sources in Olmert’s office confirmed that Israel received the list and said that a ministerial committee would meet in the coming days to decide on whether to loosen criteria for releasing Palestinian detainees in an exchange deal – a change the Israeli cabinet would have to approve.