PMO negotiator travels abroad to pursue Shalit deal

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's special negotiator for prisoner affairs Ofer Dekel traveled abroad to an unspecified destination Saturday to further pursue a prisoner exchange agreement that would see captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit released.

Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in 2006. Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip, have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israel Defense Forces soldiers' freedom. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt, broke down earlier this month over the identities of several Palestinian prisoners and the deportation of some prisoners out of Gaza following their release.

However, the Prime Minister's Bureau issued a statement late Saturday insisting that the prisoner exchange negotiations had not been renewed, and that Dekel had not traveled to Egypt.

"Hamas has not submitted a new prisoner list, and therefore the negotiations have not been renewed," the statement said.

Egyptian sources said that "there is no longer time to reach an agreement during the term of the incumbent government, but maybe one will be reached with the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu."

Earlier, parents of terror victims wrote to Olmert and to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, asking them not to release Palestinian prisoners who had killed Israelis.

The head of Hamas' military wing in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, Ra'ad al-Atar said on the division's Web site that his organization will abduct more Israeli soldiers now that the exchange deal has collapsed. Security officials believe Atar was one of the architects of the military operation that ended with Shalit's abduction.

On Sunday, Dekel told Egyptian mediators that Israel would agree to resume the negotiations only if Hamas agrees to submit a new list of prisoners for Israel's consideration.

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

Ibrahim tried to convince Israel to 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.