Israel: Hamas must change its demands for Shalit's release

In the UK and international media today, BBC Online notes that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met yesterday in Jerusalem to further peace talks. The Financial Times notes that PM Olmert is attempting to draw up an agreement of understanding with Abbas before the Israeli prime minister leaves office this month. The Times reports that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are deadlocked, despite the recent Israeli gesture to release 200 Palestinian prisoners. Reuters reports that Chairman Abbas ruled out any idea of a partial agreement coming out of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian talks and remained committed to a comprehensive plan for an agreement. The Independent carries an article on a female would-be Palestinian suicide bomber who served six years in Israeli prison and now works to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict. The paper also runs an obituary for Israeli Middle East peace activist Abie Nathan.

Over the weekend, the Sunday Telegraph reported that Dutch intelligence services removed an agent from Iran in belief that a US attack on Tehran was imminent. The Financial Times noted that Egypt opened the Gaza-Rafah border crossing for the first time since May as a goodwill gesture ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Guardian on Saturday carried a piece on Democratic Party vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his views on the Middle East.

In the Israeli press today, several papers note that Israel over the weekend called on Hamas to lower its demands and show flexibility for a prisoner exchange deal involving the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The papers also note that PM Ehud Olmert met with PA Chairman Abbas in Jerusalem yesterday. Abbas stressed that he was interested in a comprehensive plan and not an interim deal, by the end of the year. Haaretz notes that Israel told the US yesterday that it was prepared to withdraw from the northern part of the village of Ghajar along the Lebanese border. The paper also notes that recently released CIA papers show that Henry Kissinger told the CIA to continue diplomatic relations with Yasser Arafat despite the evidence that he ordered for the kidnapping and murder of the US ambassador and his deputy in Khartoum, Sudan. In addition, the paper notes that Hamas has laid an illegal pipeline between Gaza and Egypt to bring in fuel. The Jerusalem Post notes that the Defence Ministry will this week hold a drill in Tel Aviv involving a mock radioactive attack. Ynetnews notes that head of the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Services) Yuval Diskin told the cabinet yesterday that the Palestinian Authority was in a volatile state that could result in political turmoil in the near future.

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