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Egypt and Israel discuss Palestinian prisoner exchange deal

February 20, 2014 at 3:33 pm

Media sources have claimed that the new regime in Cairo has made efforts to revive discussions of an exchange of prisoners between the Palestinians and Israelis. Israel currently holds around 6,000 Palestinians in its jails, while soldier Gilad Shalit is the only Israeli being held by the Palestinians.

The Director of the Centre for Palestine Studies, Ibrahim Aladrawi, told Quds Press that Cairo recently hosted the leader of the Hamas military wing who has responsibility for the exchange deal.


Apparently, Ahmed Jabari outlined the general issues to the new Egyptian government which then spoke to an Israeli security delegation to discuss the possibility of reopening exchange discussions. Cairo feels that the time is right for such discussions following the Palestinian reconciliation agreement.

According to Mr Aladrawi, there is no information available about the substance of the discussions which have taken place. “However, we are sure that Cairo is serious about restoring its vital role in the region, and it wants to restore this matter to its natural place after previous German involvement.”