Rival Palestinian factions agree to prisoner swap in goodwill gesture

Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah agreed Wednesday to exchange prisoners as part of a deal still being negotiated to reconcile the bitterly divided groups, a senior Hamas official said.

The two sides met in Cairo for talks mediated by Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman. Wednesday's session focused on the release of detainees and ending attacks in the media against each other. Starting Thursday, the sides were to confront more challenging issues like holding elections and sharing power.

An accord between the Islamic militants of Hamas of Gaza and the more moderate Fatah movement in charge of the West Bank is seen as key to moving ahead with Gaza's reconstruction after the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinians are hoping to raise $2.8 billion at a donor's conference in Egypt on Monday. But determining how to funnel aid to Gaza's people is tricky because much of the international community shuns the territory's Hamas rulers.

In a separate effort, Egyptian mediators are also trying to reach a more permanent truce between Israel and Hamas.

Leading Hamas figure Izzat Rashaq, briefing reporters on progress Wednesday night, said a prisoner swap had been agreed. In a goodwill gesture, Fatah went ahead and released 42 Hamas detainees in the West Bank and promised to release more.

"There are promises from Fatah that they will release a large number of prisoners, but we hope that all of the prisoners will be released," Rashaq said.

Speaking earlier in the day, Nabil Shaath, a top aid to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said the sides also agreed to immediately stop all media attacks against each other.

Distrust between Hamas and Fatah runs deep after a three-year power struggle, including a civil war that ended with Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, leaving Abbas' Fatah in charge of only the West Bank.

Hamas claimed Abbas' government ran a Gaza spy ring that fed Israel information about Hamas targets during the three weeks of fighting that ended Jan. 18. Fatah accused Hamas of killing and wounding dozens of Fatah activists under the cover of the war.

Senior Palestinian officials Ahmed Qureia of Fatah and Moussa Abu Marzouk of Hamas led Wednesday's preliminary meetings before Thursday's main reconciliation discussions.

Rashaq of Hamas welcomed Fatah's first release of detainees but described it as not enough.

"This step should be reinforced by releasing the rest of the detainees to end the state of hostility and begin a real reconciliation," he said. He warned that unless Fatah releases more detainees, "it will turn to a bomb that would explode in the face of the Palestinian-Palestinian talks."

The Egyptians say the talks will also cover such ground as forming an interim government, holding presidential and legislative elections, restructuring the security services and finding a role for Hamas in the Fatah-run Palestine Liberation Organization.