Hamas delays negotiations over Gilad Shalit

According to Israeli media reports today, Hamas leaders have been heartened by the Israel-Hezbollah prisoner exchange, and are considering calling for replacing the current Egyptian mediation with Israel with German mediation. Contacts between Israel and Hezbollah leading to the exchange this week were handled by Germany.

Israel and Hamas have not yet agreed to renew negotiations over the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, despite the completion of the Hezbollah prisoner swap and the relative quiet on the southern front that were supposed to advance talks on a swap with Hamas. Hamas seems now to be refusing to back down from the list of hundreds of prisoners whose release it demands. However, Israel has only approved 71 names on the list.

Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel proposed in June to Egyptian mediator General Omar Suleiman to begin intensive talks over Shalit's release, and for the Egyptians to act as intermediaries between Hamas and Israel. The idea was to renew negotiations immediately after the Hezbollah deal went through, taking advantage of the lull in hostilities in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has not sent a high-level delegation to Cairo for talks with Suleiman, saying it is still conducting internal discussions. A senior official said yesterday that Hamas wants to continue to hold Shalit as an asset securing their rule in Gaza.

Hamas leaders are understood to be angry at the Egyptian refusal to reopen the Rafah Crossing following the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas last month. There is also a more general feeling among Hamas leaders that Egypt is unable to exert pressure on Israel, and in any case is hostile to the Hamas regime in Gaza. In this regard, it is worth remembering that the Egyptian government's main domestic foe is the Muslim Brotherhood movement, of which Hamas constitutes the Palestinian branch. Hamas is demanding that Israel release 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners in return for Shalit.

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