Contacts resume on Schalit prisoner swap

Defense Ministry envoy Amos Gilad meets Egyptian intel chief to try and jump-start negotiations with Hamas.

By YAAKOV KATZ
In an effort to jumpstart negotiations with Hamas on a prisoner exchange for St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit, the head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, Amos Gilad, paid a "lightning visit" to Cairo on Sunday. Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas since Schalit was kidnapped just outside Gaza in June 2006. On Sunday, Gilad and the head of his bureau's Egyptian Desk, David Hacham, met with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman in Cairo. The officials discussed the Schalit negotiations as well as other issues related to the Palestinians, including the continued weapons smuggling from Sinai into the Gaza Strip, and the rift between Hamas and Fatah and the subsequent potential for a new round of intra-Palestinian violence when Mahmoud Abbas's presidential term ends in January. Following Israel's prisoner swap with Hizbullah in July, talks with Hamas stalled after the terrorist group increased its demands to 1,400 security prisoners in exchange for Schalit. Three weeks ago, Israel announced it was prepared to release 450 prisoners in exchange for the kidnapped Armor Corps soldier. Egypt has been working on a comprehensive deal between Israel and Hamas that would include a prisoner swap as well as the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza. Last week, Suleiman met with Hamas representatives in Cairo to discuss the proposal. Last week, Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said that "a lack of reliability of Israeli negotiators" in the discussions on the release of Schalit delay a renewal of the talks. Le Figaro quoted Mashaal as saying that Israeli negotiators were continuing to rehash issues upon which agreement has already been reached.