Abbas says no deal yet

2009-12-09 22:32

Sharm el-Sheik - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Wednesday a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas was still stuck on the question of which prisoners Hamas wants in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier.

Abbas is not a party to the German mediated negotiations between the Islamist rulers of Gaza and Israel, which would see the release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier, Gilad Shalit.

"We as the Palestinian Authority are not a party in the negotiations for an exchange but, to our knowledge, there are talks between the two sides," he told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"They are stopping at the details and numbers of prisoners and the type of people," Hamas demands, he said.

Hamas and Israel last month said there was progress in the talks, which have dragged on since Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip three years ago, but have played down reports of an imminent deal.

According to Arab media, negotiations have stalled over Israel's refusal to free Arab-Israeli prisoners or Hamas members responsible for particularly deadly attacks and its insistence on expelling some of the released prisoners.

The prisoners under dispute include popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti, who is seen as a possible successor to Abbas.

- SAPA