Hamas: Israel has made new proposal for Shalit deal

Israel has made a new offer for a prisoner swap for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, Osama al-Muzaini, said Thursday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Muzaini said the negotiations have resumed and that Egypt informed Hamas that Israel has retreated from its previous demands. He added that the new proposal could be acceptable to Hamas and thus lead to a prisoner swap.

"Our delegation to Cairo will now hear details," he said. "If the conditions match, then we are certainly approaching a deal. However, if the enemy [Israel] insists on its demands, then this round of talks is fated to go the way the previous round went."

Palestinian sources had also said earlier this week that negotiations for Shalit's release had resumed.

Senior Egyptian official Mohammed Ibrahim was in Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday to work on the deal, and met with chief negotiator Ofer Dekel, Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin and other officials. Ibrahim, who is Egyptian intelligence chief Omer Suleiman's deputy, has coordinated the Shalit talks for Egypt.

Ibrahim tried to convince Israel to be soften its "red lines." However, an Israeli source said that Jerusalem rejected this demand.

Israel says it has agreed to release 325 of the 450 prisoners Hamas has demanded by name, but is unwilling to release the remaining 125. It is therefore insisting that Hamas present a new list of names from which Jerusalem could choose the remaining 125 to round out the total, to which it has already agreed. However, it appears that Hamas has not transmitted such a list.

There is also a dispute over how many prisoners will be deported after being released.

A senior Israeli source involved in the talks said that Diskin and Dekel emphasized to Ibrahim that "without a new prisoner list, there will be no new talks." The source added that Hamas is greatly concerned, especially since the public campaign in Israel for Shalit's release has lowered its profile.

Moreover, the source said, Hamas prisoners in Israel ¬ particularly those from the West Bank who are expecting to be released in the deal ¬ are furious that the talks collapsed. "They are angry with the Hamas negotiators, most of whom are from Gaza and Damascus," he said.

The talks deadlocked early last week, when Dekel and Diskin charged that Hamas had hardened its stance and thereby torpedoed a deal. Egypt and Hamas, however, claimed that Israel had been unwilling to compromise.

Despite the latest efforts, Israeli sources doubt an agreement can be reached before Benjamin Netanyahu's new government takes office. However, they said, Netanyahu will probably continue the talks from where they left off.

Earlier Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told President Shimon Peres that Egypt was investing maximum effort to advance talks for a cease-fire in Gaza as well as the release of Shalit.

	Abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
	Photo by: (Getty Images)