Prisoner swap talks hit hurdle

Dubai: Behind closed doors and away from the media, both Hamas and Israel continued their tough indirect negotiations to swap captured Israeli soldier Sergeant Gilad Schalit for nearly 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

A German mediator arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday with Israel's response to a proposed deal with Hamas. However, it appeared that deporting some of the Palestinian prisoners expected to be freed under the swap seems to constitute a hurdle in the talks.

While Hamas maintained its rejection of this principle, Israeli media reported Tuesday that Israel would approve a proposed prisoner swap deal with Hamas if they agree that some Palestinian prisoners to be freed are deported.

"We have nothing to say to the media [for the time being]," Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesperson in the Gaza Strip said.

Rejection

"If there is something new from Hamas to announce to the media, we will do," he told Gulf News.

However, Israeli radio stations and news websites were quoted as saying that Israel would approve a prisoner swap deal with Hamas if they agreed to the deportation of some selected Palestinian prisoners. Israel handed over a list of Palestinians it wants exiled, the media reported without naming the sources of their information.

"Hamas insists on rejection of the deportation issue," Osama Hamdan, Hamas spokesperson in Lebanon told Gulf News.

"Hamas can't approve such a thing," Hamdan added.

"There are attempts to distort the position of Hamas in this regard…. The Israeli [side] is trying to establish that exile is a Palestinian national decision, and we won't allow this to happen."

The Hamas spokesperson refused to specify the difficulties in the talks and whether they mainly included the "exile" issue.

Usually, "during negotiations," Hamdan said, "there are a set of issues between the two sides …. [and] we talk about a negotiation process and a prisoners swap, not an obstacle or a problem here or there."

Officials familiar with the talks were quoted as saying Israel was intent on barring convicted killers from returning to homes in the occupied West Bank, which is close to Israeli cities, and that they might be sent instead to the Gaza Strip or foreign countries.

Hamas had accepted that some released prisoners would be exiled but wanted them to be able to choose their destinations, the officials said.

Among those Hamas has been demanding to be included in the swap is Marwan Barghouti, a popular leader of Abbas' Fatah Party, who favours a peace agreement with Israel but is serving five consecutive life terms for his role in shooting attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk.

Aside from handing Hamas new political capital, a release could lead to the easing of a blockade that Israel and Egypt have imposed on Gaza since Hamas wrested control there in 2007. The captivity of the Israeli soldier was one of the reasons behind the Israeli embargo.

Dilemma

Expectations of an imminent swap became high earlier this week after a series of Israeli governmental meetings at top levels to discuss the deal and swap the 23-year-old soldier, who was captured in a cross-border raid in 2006 for nearly 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a terse statement after Monday's late-night cabinet talks, saying only that the Israeli leader had instructed his negotiating team to continue efforts to free Shalit.

For right-wing Netanyahu, the release of prisoners responsible for the deaths of Israelis poses a particular dilemma. Also, he is under pressure from the families of Israelis killed by fighters, who oppose their release.

A Palestinian familiar with the talks has said the prisoners would be released in two stages. A first group of 450 would be freed as Schalit is handed over to the Egyptians, and then returned to Israel.

The remainder would be released weeks or even months later.

— With additional inputs from agencies