By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Israel will offer Egypt a new proposal on Thursday for the resumption of indirect talks with Hamas over the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held hostage in the Gaza Strip since June 2006, local media reported.
Israeli chief negotiator Ofer Dekel is scheduled to head to Cairo to tell Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman that Israel expects Hamas to show greater flexibility regarding the list of prisoners it wants freed in exchange for Shalit, according to local daily Ha’aretz.
In the next few days, Israeli and Hamas representatives were expected to hold a series of separate meetings with Suleiman to advance a prisoner swap deal, the report said.
Israel and Hamas have agreed that some 450 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will be included in the swap for Shalit. Israel will first release the prisoners, after which Shalit will return to Israel via Egypt.
Israel, however, has rejected Hamas demands that it release 70 prisoners who are Israeli Arabs or residents of East Jerusalem. In addition, Israel is reluctant to release terrorists involved in bombings that killed dozens and wounded hundreds of civilians in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Netanya.
Hamas also insisted on the release of Lebanese citizen Samir Kuntar, who killed four people in a Nahariya terror attack in 1979,but Israel said Kuntar is part of a separate deal with Hezbollah, which abducted Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
So far, only 71 prisoners on Hamas’ list have been approved by Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas denied claims that Egypt had agreed to open the Rafah border crossing on the border between Gaza and Sinai peninsular only if a deal is reached on Shalit’s release.
An Israeli official has earlier said the Egyptian side promised not to reopen the Rafah border crossing, the only way out bypassing the Jewish state, until the release of Shalit.