TruthNews

Hamas Covets German Mediators For Better Schalit Deal

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 18 Jul 2008

Following the German-brokered prisoner exchange between Israel and Hizbullah this week, some Hamas officials have called for replacing Egyptian mediators with German intermediaries in the stalled negotiations over a prisoner swap involving abducted IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

"We were expecting our Egyptian brothers to represent the interests of all Arabs in the talks over Schalit. But the Egyptians don't seem to care about us," said one Hamas source, who added that Cairo even seems to favor Israel.

Hamas is upset with the Egyptians for failing to pressure Israel into accepting its list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, as well as Cairo's refusal to reopen the Rafah border crossing once the Gaza truce went into effect last month.

The Hamas officials assessed that German mediators had played key roles in arranging past prisoner exchange deals between Israel and Hizbullah, and would be more effective in brokering an agreement over Schalit.

Hamas representatives, however, said the group had not formally discussed replacing the Egyptians mediators in the Schalit talks, which have been suspended due to repeated Palestinian violations of the Gaza truce and Israel's temporary closures of all Gaza crossings.

Hamas viewed this week's Israel-Hizbullah exchange, which involved the return of the bodies of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in trade for five Lebanese terrorists, as a boost in its chances of getting even more than the 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners its has demanded in exchange for Schalit.