Defense Ministry denies reports that all of the 450 prisoners sought by Hamas will be freed by Israel.
By YAAKOV KATZ, HERB KEINONschalit in uniform 248.88(photo credit: Courtesy of Gilad Schalit's family)
The Defense Ministry on Thursday denied reports that one of Defense Minister Ehud Barak's senior advisers has told Egypt Israel will give in to all of Hamas's demands in a swap for Gilad Schalit.
Last week, the head of the ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, Amos Gilad, traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman. Defense officials said the talks focused on the ongoing truce in the Gaza Strip and that while the subject of Schalit did come up, it was only in the context of the cease-fire.
The denial came in the wake of a report in a Saudi paper that Gilad told Suleiman Israel would authorize the release of all 450 security prisoners on Hamas's list of demands once a new government was formed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. In a second stage, the report claimed that Israel would free 550 additional prisoners of its own choosing.
Defense officials said the report was false and that Gilad's talks had focused solely on "cease-fire maintenance."
In addition, the officials claimed that Israel had yet to make substantial progress in the talks with Hamas, and that the publications were possibly a result of Egyptian concern that, in light of the standstill, Hamas would seek to replace Cairo with a new mediator.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Hamas on Thursday of using Schalit as a bargaining chip to secure the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Sinai.
In an interview with BBC Arabic, Gheit said Hamas was trying to get the crossing reopened, not because it wanted to serve the interests of the Palestinian people, but rather to acquire legitimacy.
Gheit said Egypt would not do that for an organization that didn't deserve it.
"We cannot give legitimacy to a group that stole the leadership from the Palestinian Authority in Gaza," he said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded by saying that the Schalit issue was being dealt with by Egypt's intelligence services, not its Foreign Ministry, adding, "Thank God, we are not working with Ahmed Aboul Gheit."
Meanwhile, Italy's Lt.-Gen. Pietro Pistolese, head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah, is retiring and will be replaced in late November.
The 67-year-old Pistolese has headed the mission since its establishment in November 2005. The Rafah crossing, which it formerly monitored, has for all intents and purposes been closed since June 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip.
The mission does, however, keep a skeletal administrative staff of 18 people in Ashkelon, ready - along with 36 monitors who would be flown in from Europe - to open the crossing within two weeks of being asked by Israel, Egypt and the PA to once again take up their positions.
At its height, before the kidnapping of Gilad Schalit in July 2006, the mission numbered some 107 people. No replacement has yet been named for Pistolese, who will be returning to Italy.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
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