Israel refuses 51 names of Palestinian prisoners to finalize prisoners swap: Hamas official

A senior official of Islamic Hamas movement Monday said the remaining differences between Israel and Hamas on finalizing a prisoners swap are related to releasing 51 Palestinian prisoners.

The official said on condition of anonymity that Israel rejects to release 51 prisoners out of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners Hamas has asked Israel to release.

"Israel refuses to release seven prisoners from Gaza, 14 prisoners from the West bank and 30 prisoners from East Jerusalem and Israel," said the official.

For example, Israel rejects to release Abdullah al-Barghouti, the leader of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas armed wing in the West Bank, he said, adding that the German mediator proposed to send him to exile out of the Palestinian territories.

Hamas has been holding captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit since June 2006, and demands to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails for his release.

The official also said Hamas is clinging to its demands and would never change its mind about the list of the prisoners' names.

Meanwhile, another source closed to the talks, who declined to reveal his name, said Hamas is demanding for international guarantees that Israel will not carry out any retaliatory attack after Shalit is released.

The source said a medium term truce between Israel and Hamas is expected to be valid right after Shalit gets back home, in addition to easing the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and opening the borders crossings.

Israel and Hamas has agreed to resume the indirect talks mediated by German and Egypt over finalizing the prisoners swap deal right after Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which ends on Monday night.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli Radio reported that the Israeli attorney general told the Israeli high court of justice that Israel will release 980 Palestinian prisoners from its jails in exchange for Shalit, adding that the prisoners will be freed on two stages.

Once Hamas accepts the deal to free Shalit, the Israeli soldier would be transferred to Egypt through Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing. He would be taken for medical checkups before Egypt hands him to Israel.

Source: Xinhua