Hamas leaders meeting in Damascus are expected to give their answer later on Wednesday on a deal worked out between the various parties that would allow for a prisoner exchange in return for the release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross border raid in June 2006. Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the soldier's freedom.
There is speculation that Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five live sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in murdering over 30 Jews, has been promised that he will be released in any deal to exchange kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for terrorists held by Israel. Barghouti was made the promise by Hamas leaders, a Hamas source told Arab media, although he himself belongs to Fatah.
The London-based Arabic newspaper ‘Al-Hayat’ reported on Wednesday that the Hamas leadership was split over a recent Israeli proposal that could result in a prisoner swap. According to the newspaper, senior Hamas officials are in disagreement over a compromise on the list of prisoners the organization has demanded that Israel release.
A delegation of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), led by the President Moshe Kantor, has brought up the issue of Shalit’s release at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. Lavrov told the delegation that he was in constant communication with the Shalit family and that the Russian government would provide any assistance necessary to secure his release from captivity. “The continuing incarceration of Gilad Shalit is a humanitarian issue of great concern to Israel and the Jewish people,” Kantor told Lavrov. ”Given Russian influence in the Middle East we would like to ask what Russia can do to help solve this issue,” he said.
