'Talks hit snag because Hamas insisted all 450 prisoners be freed'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Palestinian sources on Tuesday told the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat that negotiations for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit were discontinued due to Hamas's insistence on freeing all 450 prisoners on the list it presented to Israel. According to the sources, which the paper termed "reliable," the figure behind Hamas's hardened position was the organization's military chief, Ahmed Jabri, who had led the Hamas delegation to Egypt. Egyptian sources told the paper that the Israeli envoys to the talks had said that they had given Israel's best offer and that anything further required an executive decision on the part of the government.