Militant Palestinian group denies prisoner swap deal is imminent

Sep 12, 2009, 15:04 GMT

Gaza City - One of the militant Palestinian groups involved in the 2006 capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Saturday that a prisoner exchange deal with Israel is not in sight.

Abu Mujahid, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), which, along with militants from the Hamas movement and another group, is holding Shalit, denied that a deal is imminent and dismissed reports of progress in negotiations.

He told reporters in Gaza that 'the Israeli occupation is the one which obstructs finalizing the deal, while the Palestinian resistance insists that all those who spend long-term sentences in Israel jails should be released.'

'The ball is now at the Israeli side, and Israel can finalize the deal within hours if it accepts the captors' demands,' said Abu Mujahid. 'The Egyptian and German mediators still exert tremendous efforts to finalize the deal,' he added.

Militants from Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigade, the PRC and a minor group called the 'Army of Islam' kidnapped the 23-year-old soldier in June 2006 during a raid on an Israeli army base south-east of the Gaza Strip.

Since then, Egypt has been facilitating indirect negotiations, mainly between Hamas and Israel. In June, German mediators joined the efforts, which have included talks in Cairo, Damascus and Tel Aviv.

Shalit's captors are demanding that Israel release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 450 serving life sentences.

Some Gaza-based news websites reported that a deal is imminent, citing Egyptian and Israeli official sources. The anonymous sources also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak would make an announcement to this effect when they meet in Cairo on Sunday.