A prisoners' exchange deal is imminent, Gulf paper reveals

Caricature: "I am French, not Israeli!" (MaanImages)

September 4, 2006

Bethlehem – A prisoners' exchange deal is very close, a Gulf newspaper has revealed.

Political sources have said that a deal has been reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians in which the Israelis will release 1400 Palestinian prisoners, and the Palestinian tax money that has been held in Israeli banks, in exchange for the Israeli soldier captured in June.

The sources added that Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia all participated in reaching this deal. The sources add that this deal could be implemented in the next 48 hours.

The sources said that efforts were made by many other countries to end the crisis, including the USA, France, Russia, Iran, Jordan and Syria.

According to the Qatari daily 'Al Mashriq', it said that the deal contains ten items, and that the deal came after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, warned of a total collapse of the situation and said that he would not accept the continued Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip and the continued massacre of Palestinian people. He threatened to take serious steps to confront this deterioration. For example, he said that he might resign and withdraw the Palestine Liberation Organisation's recognition of Israel.

The paper said that the ten-item deal starts with the opening of the crossings and lifting the siege imposed by Israel on the Strip, and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Strip. It also calls for an end to the Israeli offensive. It says that Egypt, Turkey, Russia and France "guarantee" that the deal will be executed. In addition, the deal says specifically that the Rafah crossing will be opened, the Palestinian tax money that Israel confiscated from the Palestinians will be released, Israel will stop the policy of assassinating Palestinians, 1400 Palestinian prisoners will be released and the Palestinian resistance will stop launching projectiles into Israel and stop bombing operations in Israeli cities.

Other political sources said that a high-ranking Arab official telephoned on Sunday morning the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Hamas leader, Khalid Mash'al, in regards to this deal.

The sources confirmed that Israel has started preparing the lists of the names of the Palestinian prisoners to be released in this deal. This deal has not been announced yet because discussions are continuing regarding fixing a suitable schedule and dates and, according to the sources, an early announcement risks embarrassing Hamas and Israel domestically.