A Palestinian research center for prisoners' issues has on Saturday called on Egypt to renew mediation between Israel and the Palestinian factions that hold an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
Ra'fat Hamdouna, director of the Prisoners Center for Studies and Researches, added that the Egyptian efforts should be "based on a number of principles demonstrating the issues' humanitarian and national dimensions."
He explained that 430 old prisoners spent more than 20 years in captivity, 109 women, 330 prisoners under 18-year-old and the patients who exceeded 1,000 should not be neglected in any exchange swap.
The Palestinian factions that hold Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit demand Israel to release the old, women, children and patients from its jails in exchange for the soldier. Israel holds about 11,000 Palestinians.
"Neglecting those groups of prisoners in any future swap won't make the deal fruitful," said Hamdouna, adding he was "optimistic that the Egyptian intervention could work out."
But Egypt has suspended the mediation in June when Islamic Hamas movement, which led Shalit's captors, seized control of Gaza Strip and routed forces loyal to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Source: Xinhua
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