Talks to free Gilad Shalit resume, say Netanyahu and Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that talks to free Franco-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have resumed. His captors, the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip, have confirmed the news, according to local media.

Reuters

"The contacts for the release of Gilad Shalit have resumed ... There are many discreet efforts," Netanyahu told army radio Sunday.

Hamas representatives in Damascus on Saturday confirmed rumours that talks had started again, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.  

 
Speculation was sparked off by claims by Hamas politburo member Abu Marzook that German mediator Gerhard Konrad met leaders of his party in Gaza two weeks ago and that the meeting centred on Shalit.

But Shalit’s father, Noam, also speaking to army radio, denied that there have been any contacts.

"There is no progress, and everything is blocked,” he said. “There are efforts, but nothing new because, ultimately, the prime minister has to take the right decisions.”

Shalit, who has both Israeli and French nationality, was captured in a cross-border raid in 2006. He is now 24-years-old.
 

Germany and Egypt have acted as mediators but negotiations broke down late last year when Hamas refused to formally respond to an Israeli offer.

Hamas has offered to exchange Shalit for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The Israelis refuse to free some of them, including top Fatah official Marwan Barghouti, because it says they have been responsible for violence against Israeli citizens.

It also insisted that some prisoners whom it was ready to free be deported to Gaza, rather than the West Bank where they come from. Hamas turned down this condition.