Hamas chief arrives in Cairo to discuss Shalit deal
Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha says Meshal will also discuss restarting Palestinian reconciliation talks.
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press Tags: Gilad Shalit Hamas Israel news prisoner exchangeHamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshal is in Cairo to discuss a prisoner exchange deal for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, a spokesman for the Islamist group said on Saturday.
Meshal arrived in Cairo on Saturday. He heads a high-ranking delegation of the Palestinian Islamic movement to meet senior Egyptian officials, including intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
Spokesman Ayman Taha said Meshal will also discuss restarting Palestinian reconciliation talks.
Negotiations to release Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in exchange for Shalit have fizzled since he was seized in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in 2006.
But in recent weeks, German mediators have become involved, reviving the talks. Still, both sides have dampened expectations of a quick deal.
Saudi daily Al-Watan reported on Friday that Meshal intended to use the visit to approve the clauses of the prisoner swap deal and sign off on a final draft.
Leaders of rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas are to conduct separate meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Saturday, to discuss reconciliation between their factions.
Feuds between Hamas and its secular Palestinian rival Fatah mounted after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and ousted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces.
Egyptian intelligence officials have been trying to broker an agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which controls Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank, since March.
Abbas is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to discuss Cairo-mediated Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks, as well as the Arab-Israeli peace process and Abbas' recent tour of European capitals.
Abbas, who arrived in Cairo on Saturday after his Paris visit where he met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, is scheduled to head to Saudi Arabia after his 2-day visit in Egypt.
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And if Shalit is no longer among the living what kind of deal will this be?? The Israeli government has already shown sufficient weakness as in negotiating live terrorists for dead Israeli captives. Of course Hamas has every assurance that they will be stupid enough to fall for this trick again!
Conroy, how is it that you refer to Hamas leaders as "thugs" when you yourself sound like a thug? Gilad Shalit was just in the wrong place at the wrong time; he is no hero, just a regular IDF soldier.
Meshal is not in exile, he is in hiding for he is guilty of mass murder and other war crimes. He is a war criminal that Egypt allows to be free and stay in luxury hotels while Meshal's victims lay in their graves rolling.
The only prisoners Israel should release for the hero Gilad are the ones Israel scooped up when Shalit was first kidnapped. Let the rest rot until they're dispatched to hell. As for the murderer Barghouti, I'm very glad Bibi is in power because I can't see him ever releasing that pig.
In the interests of securing the release of Gilad Shalit, more serious attention needs to be taken to the issues of settlements and their impact on the fragile relationship between Israel and America, let alone the long-term security objective of Israel being tied to the creation of a Palestinian State in accordance with the 2 State Solution and internationally accepted borders between Israel and Palestine, namely Gaza and the West Bank alongside the Israeli State. Careful attention should be given to mediating between Hamas and Al-Fatah to see a strengthened leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, with the objective of bringing peace and prosperity to the Palestinian people, living harmoniously alongside the Israeli State. Netanyahu is certainly not helping by giving mixed signals on settlement expansion, let alone not addressing the fundamental question that remains internationally about the state of the internationally (UN) recognised borders of Israel and Palestine.