Meshaal in Cairo: Progress on Shalit Deal Still Long Way Off
06/09/2009 Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said Sunday there was still a long way to go before any agreement could be reached on a deal for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Hamas leader told reporters in Cairo that there was still "not a short path to go" before the negotiations with the Israeli enemy were completed, despite new German mediation.
Meshal was visiting Cairo Sunday for talks with high level Egyptian officials on Palestinian reconciliation and negotiations over Shalit, in which Hamas is demanding Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Meshaal, leading a Hamas delegation, met Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, a key link in indirect contacts with the Israeli enemy on a prisoner swap as well as in talks between Hamas and the secular Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
"The meeting took place on Saturday evening," a Hamas official said, without giving details of the discussions.
An Egyptian official told the official MENA news agency the talks focused on "how to end... Palestinian divisions as quickly as possible, ahead of the political process likely to be launched following the announcement by the United States in a few weeks' time of their vision for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
State television said Meshaal and Suleiman also talked about prospects for the mooted exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"The topic of the prisoners was one of the main subjects raised during the session," MENA cited the official as saying. "Finding a solution to this topic will have a major impact on the other questions, such as lifting the blockade and the permanent opening of the crossing points" with Gaza, he said.
The Palestinian reconciliation project remains stalled on three areas of disagreement, the official said, without naming them.
Abbas said on Saturday after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Cairo is reviewing the positions of each Palestinian faction before making proposals "within the next week" and setting a date for a final round of talks.
Egypt has twice postponed the date scheduled for signing a Palestinian unity agreement because of continued disagreements between the rivals.
The Liitle Zionist Propagandist is still spreading the Lie/Dream of Pharaoh delivering a domesticated Hamas,
"COMMENT: The Idiots of Hamas Are Still Counting on the Pharaoh?"
Flashback: Friday, June 26, 2009
Is Hamas About to be Fooled, Again, by the Pharaoh? Tony was Almost Certain, the Answer is Yes!
Shalit Transfer to Egypt Imminent as Part of US Initiative
Al-Manar
"26/06/2009 Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be transferred to Egypt within a few days as part of a swap deal with Hamas, Haaretz quoted European diplomatic sources as saying Thursday. The move is part of a new United States initiative that includes Egyptian and Syrian efforts with Hamas, internal Palestinian reconciliation and Israel's opening of the Gaza crossings.
According to the Israeli daily, a reliable European source said this Egyptian-brokered agreement was reached two days ago. A Palestinian source confirmed the report last night but officials in Tel Aviv denied any knowledge of it.
The idea to transfer Shalit to Egypt in exchange for the release of Palestinian women, teens, cabinet ministers and parliamentarians being held in Israeli prisons was raised about a year ago during a visit by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter to Damascus, occupied Jerusalem and Gaza. Apparently Carter raised it again on his visit earlier this month, during which he met Noam Shalit, Gilad's father.
According to the plan Shalit will be entrusted to Egyptian intelligence
[How can the Hamas fools fall for this? Egyptian "intelligence" is inseparable from the Mossad. Might as well give him directly to the Mossad and say that, "Hamas trusts the goodwill of the Mossad!" What fools!] , and his parents will be allowed to visit him. He will be returned to Israel after an agreement is reached regarding the list of Hamas detainees to be released that was previously submitted to the cabinet.The European source said Shalit's transfer to Egypt was the first stage of the Egyptian-brokered agreement hammered out between Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions, in coordination with the U.S. and with Syria's support.
The deal would put the Gaza Strip under the leadership of a joint committee subordinate to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas......
Israel this week freed Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker and Hamas member Aziz Dweik after three years in prison
.[I am sure that this was a part of the deal]....."
# posted by Tony : 8:00 PM
UP, I have read a a translation into French of an article by Bari Atwan. Its title is "the american peace and the stupidity of arabs" and there is a link to the original in arabic -scroll down to the bottom- Some points of it left me surprised. Would you mind telling me what you think of this piece?
ReplyDeleteIt was his comments on Hamas what struck me, he sounds like "everything is lost, Hamas abandoned resistance" etc. I really don't think so, that's why I got surprised since I also have the idea of Bari Atwan writing straight analysis.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know if the situation is better than it was three years ago. I really don't know. On one hand Israel could not defeat nor dislodge Hamas, and those are great news, specially if we consider the immense difference in firepower. But on the other hand, the palestinian situation has never been as bad as it is now, and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dramatic, with no signs of improvement in the future. They want to bring Hamas to its knees. Thank it to Fatah in the first place. It is not a matter of a few bad apples, all Fatah party is rot, mainly the leadership, but those who follow them as well. And the so-called international community is not concerned at all if they all die, let's recall the past example of the 500.000 iraqi children killed by the sanctions...