Original source URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060903/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgaza_060903114049 Israel could free 800 Palestinians for soldier Sun Sep 3, 7:40 AM ET Under secret talks being brokered by Egypt, Israel could release up to 800 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a soldier captured by Gaza militants in early June. Quoting unnamed security officials, top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot said Israel would free the prisoners in three stages and that the negotiations were being held up over the timetable of the releases. Israel has refused as part of the deal to release Marwan Barghuti, a leader of the Palestinian uprising and a top official of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction, it said. Gaza militants seized Corporal Gilad Shalit in a June 25 cross-border raid that left two other soldiers dead, sparking a large-scale Israeli offensive in the coastal strip to recover the serviceman and prevent rocket fire. The continuing offensive has killed more than 200 Palestinians. Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya of the ruling Islamist Hamas movement told reporters Sunday: "The Egyptians are making a lot of efforts. There are certain things going on to solve this question but there is nothing specific. "We hope the Egyptian efforts succeed," he said during a visit to a school in Gaza. Shalit's father, Noam, confirmed to AFP that talks over his son's release were under way. "There are indirect contacts by Egyptian intermediaries. For the moment there is no progress, but I hope there will be some soon. That would be normal, after 70 days" that Shalit has been missing, the father said. "I have periodic contacts with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but for the moment I haven't any and I think Hamas's political arm in Damascus holds the key to the situation." Hamas's armed wing was one of three groups that claimed responsibility for the raid, demanding that Israel release prisoners in exchange for the soldier. Asked to comment on the reports, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told AFP Sunday: "We do not talk with terrorists." The Jewish state has officially demanded an unconditional release, but local media have reported that talks have been under way for some time. On Saturday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told the leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram that talks were under way to release the soldier in exchange for Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails. The Cairo weekly Akhbar Al-Yom quoted Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit as saying that Egypt was trying to secure the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
