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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh before leaving for Egypt (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners November 29, 2006 |
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Making his first trip abroad, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh began talks Wednesday with Egyptian officials on a prisoner swap with Israel and the formation of a Palestinian coalition government.
Arguments on the two issues have delayed attempts to relaunch the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, in which Egypt is playing a key role as mediator.
Israeli government officials say the two sides are far from a deal. Hamas wants Israel to release, in three stages, 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in return for Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier whom Hamas-linked militants captured in June.
Shalit's kidnapping provoked an Israeli military offensive in Gaza and five months of fighting. On Sunday, Israel and Palestinian factions promised to respect a truce, raising hopes that the peace process could be revived. The cease-fire, however, has already been breached three times by rounds of rockets shot from Gaza by militants.
Despite this, after his arrival in Egypt, Haniyeh pledged his government would abide by the cease-fire as long as Israel did.
"The Palestinian government is committed to the cease-fire agreement, and the stopping of rocket attacks on Israel, on condition that Israel is obliged to stop attacks on the Palestinians," Haniyeh said.
Haniyeh briefed Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories as well as discussing the prisoner exchange and the negotiations for a coalition government, Egypt's semi-official Middle East News Agency reported.
Haniyeh is scheduled to meet Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa later Wednesday, said Mohammed Sobeih, the Palestinian representative to the League.
The Palestinian leader, who belongs to the militant Hamas group, arrived in Cairo late Tuesday and held talks with intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, Egypt's point man for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Suleiman flew Wednesday to Israel where he held talks with Defense Minister Amir Peretz on the prisoner exchange. He was due to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later Wednesday.
At the start of his meeting with Suleiman, Minister Peretz said that "there is no doubt that Suleiman has made many contributions to the stability in the Middle East and to the promotion of the relationship between the moderate forces in the region."
General Suleiman has been discussing the issue of the kidnapped Israeli solder in the past four months with Haniyeh's government and with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, in Damascus and in Cairo.
The issue of smuggling of weapons and explosives from Egypt to the Gaza Strip continues to bother Israel, also in light of the fear that the current ceasefire will serve as a catalyst for Palestinian terror organizations to rearm for a new round of violence.
Peretz seeks to ensure that Egypt in fact plans to exert its pressure and close the border on the Philadelphi route and along the western Negev.
Of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, sources in Jerusalem said, "The release agreement, if it were to be executed, would come as a trust-building step following the establishment of a new Palestinian unity government."
The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have a bearing on Wednesday's summit in Jordan, where U.S. President George W. Bush to due to discuss Iraq's escalating conflict with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. America has been asking Arab states for support in curbing the Iraqi violence, but Arab leaders have urged Washington to make progress on what they see as the Middle East's priority -- a settlement of the Palestinian issue.
On Thursday, Haniyeh is expected to meet his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Nazif and then leave Egypt for other Arab countries.
He is expected to go to Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria and Iran on a tour designed to obtain political and financial support for his government.
The trip is Haniyeh's first journey abroad since he took office in March.
AP and Ynet writer Ronny Sofer contrinuted to this report.
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