Barak admits Israel in serious negotiations over Shalit release
Defense Minister Ehud Barak admitted on Tuesday that, for the first time in a long time, Israel is in serious negotiations about the release of kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit. But asked specifically about a report Tuesday morning that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was heading to Cairo amid increased Israeli flexibility in the deal, Barak said, "There is a grain of truth in the rumors."What could go wrong?
"These reports are part of the process but I prefer not to speak [about it]," he said.
But asked specifically about a report Tuesday morning that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was heading to Cairo amid increased Israeli flexibility in the deal, Barak said, "There is a grain of truth in the rumors."
"These reports are part of the process but I prefer not to speak [about it]," he said.
One of the issues now on the table, sources told Al-Hayat, is the release of Israeli Arabs and east Jerusalem residents, which Israel had previously refused to discuss.
According to reports in the paper earlier this week, a delegation from Jerusalem and the Islamist group met last week but failed to produce any results in negotiations, prompting Egyptian mediators to push for renewed talks.
A senior Egyptian official told Al-Hayat Monday "It is not yet possible to talk about any breakthroughs in negotiations," but added optimistically that "there is a real willingness by both sides to move forward on the deal, and Israel is ready to pay the price for freeing Schalit."
The negotiations were reportedly taking place in an Egyptian intelligence complex, with Palestinians and Israelis meeting with Egyptian officials in separate rooms. Egyptian mediators would then carry messages from room to room in order to conduct negotiations.
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Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Damascus-based Hamas “political bureau,” said that his optimism was based on “internal pressure” on the Israeli government and changes in the makeup of the mediating team, Al-Hayat reported.
Labels: Gilad Shalit, Hamas, Palestinian terrorists
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:35 PM
1 Comments:
Israel is going to release thousands of terrorists from its prisons, even those "with blood on their hands," to bring Gilad Shalit home. Its a question of how a high price Israel is willing to pay to make to make it happen.
What could go wrong indeed
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