Olmert postpones special cabinet session on Shalit

Shortly after midnight, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert postponed for 24 hours a special cabinet session on abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in order to give negotiators an extra day in Cairo to finalize a deal for his release.

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin and special negotiator Ofer Dekel on Sunday decided to remain in Cairo for extra negotiations.

The two were expected to leave Egypt late Sunday with a finalized agreement following their weekend talks with the Egyptian negotiators mediating with Hamas for Shalit's release. It is not clear when they will return.

Israel sent a message to Hamas Saturday that the final date for reaching an agreement on a prisoner exchange involving Shalit will be Sunday night.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Sunday that the Israeli government would decide by the following day on a deal to secure the release of Shalit, who was abducted by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip in a cross border raid in 2006.

"My emissaries will return this evening and will report to me," Olmert said, speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "The government will receive an update tomorrow and in accordance with that we will reach a decision."

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said later Sunday, however, that no new developments had been reached regarding the soldier's release.

From Cairo, Barhoum said he considered Olmert's statement and the arrival of Israeli negotiators in Egypt to be bargaining tactics.

"We have not received anything new," he said. "We will not change our position."

Hamas, the rulers of the Strip, have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier's freedom.

During the cabinet meeting, Olmert said that Israel has made great efforts to achieve Shalit's release from his Hamas captors over the last three years that were unknown to the general public.

"Until today, Hamas' position was far beyond what the most moderate figures that pressured and pushed for a deal with Hamas would have accepted," he added.

Palestinian sources have said the main obstacle in the negotiations is a dispute over the number of prisoners to be expelled after they are released from prison.

A senior source in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Saturday that this is the final push before Israel's new government takes over after last month's elections.

"There is still no breakthrough. This is the final effort. There is time until Sunday night to reach a deal," the senior source said. "This can turn into a deal but it can also get stuck. If there is an agreement it will be possible to hold a vote in the cabinet on Monday."

Olmert aides stressed Saturday that by Tuesday the Knesset will be presented with the coalition agreements of Benjamin Netanyahu's new government for approval.

It appears that with the help of Egyptian mediators, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal in which a large number of Palestinian prisoners will be released in return for Shalit. But there are still names of prisoners pending, and there is no final agreement on the security arrangements.

This is the reason Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin participated in talks in Cairo last week, to discuss the expulsion to the Gaza Strip or abroad of some of the released prisoners.

"It is necessary to reach a deal that will also assuage the Shin Bet, so Diskin has joined the negotiations," a senior political source said.

Last week Olmert's special envoy, Ofer Dekel, and Diskin held three days of indirect talks with Hamas representatives, with the assistance of Egyptian intelligence officials.

On Friday Dekel and Diskin briefed Olmert on the developments; the prime minister gave final instructions and sent the two officials back to Cairo for a final set of talks.

Olmert also briefed Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu on the developments.

The purpose of the special cabinet meting on Monday is for "updating the cabinet on the talks for the release of the abducted soldier and to present the current situation before the new government takes over, probably later in the week," a source in Olmert's bureau said.

If a deal is reached and approved, the exchange will begin with the release of 300 prisoners in return for the transfer of Shalit to Egypt, where his parents will be able to visit him. Then 150 more prisoners will be released and Shalit will be brought to Israel.

Palestinian sources say that in the deal being formulated, Israel will release the 450 prisoners Hamas named, including convicted killers and planners of suicide bombings.

Saturday, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said the group refused to accept the expulsion of any of the released prisoners.

But an Egyptian source said that "there are still disagreements on the names that will be released, not only about the expulsions."

	Gilad Shalit's brother Yoel and his father Noam at a protest tent in Jerusalem on Friday.
	Photo by: (Emil Salman / Jini)