 Hamas has raised the price for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit and is now demanding 1,400 dumptrucks full of Iranian ca$h Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a senior Hamas official said Thursday.| "Also a pony, and four dozen Tim Horton's maple glaze bear claws. Or else." |
Earlier reports had suggested that Hamas, one of three groups that have been holding Shalit in the Gaza Strip since his abduction last June, was prepared to exchange him for only a few hundred Palestinian prisoners.
Osama Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, confirmed that Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was in Cairo for "crucial" talks on the possibility of conducting a prisoner exchange with Israel. He said Mashaal was also holding talks with Egyptian government officials on the latest crisis surrounding the establishment of a Hamas-Fatah unity government.
Mashaal, who arrived unexpectedly in Cairo Wednesday night, held talks with Egyptian General Intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman, who has been spearheading mediation efforts aimed at bringing about a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinians. Mashaal, who is said to be in direct contact with Shalit's kidnappers, has been under immense pressure from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to agree to a prisoner exchange with Israel. Sources close to Hamas said the three Arab countries were working toward making a prisoner exchange part of a comprehensive deal in which the Israelis and Palestinians would agree to a mutual cease-fire.
According to Hamdan, Hamas's latest initiative for ending the Shalit affair calls for the release of some 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including all females and minors held in Israeli prisons. 
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