'Al-Hayat': Israel agrees to releasing 450 prisoners for Schalit

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Ofer Dekel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's emissary on the prisoner swap issue, gave Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman a list of 450 Palestinian prisoners that Israel is not opposed to freeing in the first stage of a swap deal with Hamas to secure the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Al-Hayat reported Friday. The London-based newspaper quoted Egyptian sources as saying that a Hamas delegation was expected to head to Cairo next week to discuss the names on the list, followed by Dekel's return to Egypt. The sources went on to say that among the prisoners Hamas was demanding in the first stage were PFLP chief Ahmed Sadat, Tanzim leader Marwan Baghouti, Amana Muna - a female Fatah operative who lured 16-year-old Ophir Rahum via Internet chats to a cruel death on January 17, 2001 - and two members of Hamas's armed wing Izzadin Kassam. Meanwhile, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awasat newspaper said that Israel had offered to release prisoners who took part in large terror attacks to Gaza, but not to the West Bank. If Hamas agrees to the offer, said the newspaper, Israel will release the prisoners Hamas is demanding, including Abbas Said, the mastermind of the 2002 Pessah eve bombing of Netanya's Park Hotel. However, the paper said that Hamas was opposed to the offer, since the group refused to agree to "the deportation" of prisoners.