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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Palestinian source says Hamas and Israel likely to reach a comprehensive ceasefire soon |
| 2007-12-25 |
| Ma'an – A Palestinian source, who spoke to Ma'an on condition of anonymity, revealed on Monday that a prisoners' swap deal between Hamas and Israeli is being completed. The deal includes releasing the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit , and Israel in exchange releases 500 Palestinian prisoners in addition to all the detained Palestinian Legislative Council PLC members. The source also told Ma'an that the deal would include halting the launching of Palestinian homemade projectiles from Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns. Furthermore, inter-Palestinian dialogue will start three months after the agreement is in effect in order to form a new Palestinian government and prepare for new legislative elections. According to the source, Hamas accepted that deal because they wanted to get rid of the burdens which resulted from the detention of Shalit as that was one of the reasons behind the continuation of the siege on Gaza Strip. The source also said he believed Hamas has realized that it can't stand to the promise to release large numbers of Hamas' prominent prisoners who pinned hopes on the "Shalit's deal", and so Hamas preferred to make a more comprehensive deal to avoid embarrassment. The source believes that the expected visit by the Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak to Cairo is related to the completion of the prisoners' deal which, according to the source, includes: 1- Releasing about 500 Palestinian prisoners most of whom were jailed before the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising). For his part, the spokesperson of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades Abu Ubayda denied the presence of any deal between Hamas and Israel over the issue of Gilad Shalit. |
| Posted by:Fred |