DFLP to hold separate talks with Fatah and Hamas over internal dialogue

Sunday June 29, 2008 00:18

by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine –DFLP- stated on Saturday that the movement will hold separate talks with Hamas and Fatah officials on the issue of national unity as well as the truce deal between the resistance groups in Gaza and Israel.

File 2007

According to the statement that was faxed to the press, the talks will take place over the next few days. The meeting will also include follow ups on the lists of political prisoners from each party to be exchanged with the captured Israeli soldier in Gaza, Gilad Shalit. Saleh Naser, member of the DFLP central committee, said that the lists of political prisoners were presented to both the Fatah and Hamas movements. Adding that the DFLP has not yet agreed on "a means of releasing the prisoners despite the large number of proposals submitted concerning this issue." It is hoped that this detail will be worked out during the coming meetings. In his statement Nasser voiced the necessity of a joint discussion over the the Israeli violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the continued Israeli attacks in the West Bank. Egyptian-mediated talks between the Palestinians and Israelis continue in Cairo, as the truce deal between the two sides is in jeopardy. Israel closed the border crossings into Gaza in response to homemade shells being fired into nearby Israel. According to a statement released by Islamic Jihad, the shells fired were in response to an Israeli army assassination of an Islamic Jihad leader this week in the West Bank. The Cairo talks are based on last Thursday's Egyptian-mediated ceasefire deal. Israel is reportedly considering a prisoner swap deal with the ruling Hamas party in Gaza. Reports indicate that Egypt had handed over a list of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants to see freed within stages, in return for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit. Shalit who was captured by Hamas in a cross-border attack in June 2006. According to the expected deal, media sources say, Israel might consider releasing prisoners including some of the group Israel refers to as ‘those whose hands are stained with blood', and might also free 550 women and children. However, Israel suggested to Egyptian mediators that these prisoners be transferred outside Palestine or that Hamas' original list be modified to include Gaza Strip prisoners only. As the talks progress, Israeli media sources hinted on Friday that the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians will likely collapse.