Israeli security sources: prisoner swap deal out of the question

Tuesday October 07, 2008 11:44 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli security sources warned Tuesday of the limited possibility of a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit in Gaza.

Captured Israeli soldier, Gil'ad Shalit

According to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, the sources said that time is running out, with little hope of achieving any progress regarding a potential swap deal and that this would hamper negotiations over the case.

The sources confirmed that Hamas might increase demands in return for releasing Shailt which would explode the situation near the Gaza-Egypt border lines.

The sources also believed that Egypt, a principal mediator, might reduce its influence and that a Shalit guardsman might harm Shalit, ending the case once and for all.

Several rounds of Egyptian mediation efforts have so far failed to bring in any progress to a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Hamas demands to see a list of Palestinian prisoners with long-term sentences freed, while Israel refuses.

In a cross-border resistance attack in June 2006, the currently ruling Hamas party captured soldier Shalit and held him in Gaza. Israel responded with lethal force against the Gaza Strip, killing more than 450 Palestinian men, women and children and destroying main infrastructure, yet refused to free Shalit.

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