Last update - 00:00 23/03/2007
J'lem sources: No deal reached with PM on Shalit release
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Political sources in Jerusalem on Friday denied that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had reached a deal with the Palestinians on the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Army Radio reported.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Channel 1 on Thursday that a framework agreement has been reached on a prisoner swap involving Shalit, adding that the two sides still need to work out the details of the agreement.
"We agreed recently on a framework with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to solve the problem of Shalit, in agreement with the Egyptians, and this process is happening quickly," Abbas said. "I hope his release will come quickly. I believe now it is accepted and everybody is working toward that."
Meanwhile, MK Ahmed Tibi told Army Radio on Friday that a deal on Shalit's release did not seem to be imminent. Tibi met with Abbas Thursday evening in Ramallah.
"Abu Mazen [Abbas] spoke about the subject at length," Tibi said. "And he did not say that a deal on Gilad Shalit's release was closed. He spoke about progression, about a draft, about a proposal and so forth. I did not understand from him that this matter was going to be solved at any moment."
Tibi added that the Palestinian unity government did not have control of all the terror groups in the territories, and therefore even if it was interested in an end to the crisis, it was not capable of doing so immediately.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti, who is also the government's spokesman, was optimistic about Shalit's release. Barghouti, who met earlier this week with Haaretz journalists, said on Thursday that Hamas has put through a new initiative via Egypt, and that it depended on Israel's response. "If Israel accepts, I think it can be resolved," he said.
Barghouti said he talked this week with Hamas' political bureau head, Khaled Meshal, and the Hamas leader informed him that preparations were underway for Shalit's release.
Barghouti added that the Palestinian government, Hamas ministers included, was committed to the creation of a Palestinian state which would coexist alongside Israel. "If only Israel would take the wax out of its ears, it could hear Meshal was calling for a two-state solution," he said.
Shalit was abducted by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid last June.