Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal confirmed on Sunday that Germany is mediating an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap that would include Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit but stressed the bid is in its early stages.
"Concerning Shalit, as you know there is some development as a result of the Germany mediation bid in co-ordination with Egypt," Meshaal told a joint news conference in Cairo with Arab League chief Amr Mussa. "But we are in the early stages. We have not discussed any (Palestinian) names nor any details," said the exiled leader of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip, during a visit to Egypt. "More time is needed" before any real progress can be announced, Meshaal said. "We must be cautious and not hasty."
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported in last Monday's edition that Israel had accepted a German-mediated prisoner swap deal to free hundreds of Palestinians in return for Shalit.
"The German secret services have recently been holding talks with the Israeli government and Hamas. The aim is to obtain the exchange of Gilad Shalit against several hundred Palestinian prisoners," Der Spiegel said. The same day Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum confirmed the report but said there had been "no progress" on the ground.
Meshaal discussed the swap on Saturday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has unsuccessfully brokered indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on the issue, and is Cairo's point man on efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.
"The topic of the prisoners was one of the main subjects raised during the session," an Egyptian official was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency MENA. "Finding a solution to this topic will have a major impact on the other questions, such as lifting the blockade and the permanent opening of the crossing points" with the Gaza Strip, he said.
Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was seized in June 2006 in a deadly cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip conducted by three Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas which now rules the coastal territory.
His parents received a letter from French President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 28 - the day Shalit turned 23 - pledging that France "will continue to act tirelessly... in order that he be released." Meshaal, in Cairo since Friday at the head of a large delegation, also discussed with Suleiman efforts to end a protracted rift between Hamas and the secular Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The talks focused on "how to end... Palestinian divisions as quickly as possible, ahead of the political process likely to be launched following the announcement by the United States in a few weeks' time of their vision for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the Egyptian official said.
The Palestinian reconciliation project remains stalled on three areas of disagreement, the official told MENA, without naming them.
Hamas and Fatah have been in dispute since a split culminated in the Islamists violently seizing control of Gaza in June 2007 after 18 months of shaky coalition government.
Cairo wants the dialogue to resume after Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which this year will be on September 21 or 22. Abbas said on Saturday after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Cairo is reviewing the positions of each Palestinian faction before making proposals "within the next week" and setting a date for a final round of talks.
Egypt has twice postponed the date scheduled for signing a Palestinian unity agreement because of continued disagreements between the rivals.
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