Result of Gaza truce talks to be known soon: Israel
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The outcome of negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire between Hamas Islamists and Israel will be known "in the near term", an Israeli official involved in the talks said on Saturday.
Amos Gilad, who visited Cairo this week to discuss Egypt's mediation efforts with Hamas, told Israel Radio that halting rocket fire by Gaza militants and ending arms smuggling into the coastal territory were critical parts of any agreement.
"Stopping terror is an immediate aim," he said. The issue of the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was also central but would be dealt with separately.
"We are holding discussions with the Egyptians and we have the reaction, which I will not detail. We will know the results in the near term," Gilad said.
The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, quoting an unnamed Egyptian source, said Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, had convinced Israel not to link the release of the soldier to the announcement of a ceasefire.
Suleiman had "promised that the issue would be the first to be discussed after the truce announcement, and Israel and Hamas accepted this," the paper said.
Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said the release of Shalit was "a separate issue and not part of calm (talks)." Haniyeh added that the soldier's release hinges on an Israeli obligation to release Palestinian prisoners.
"If the Israelis are willing to promote this issue, I do not think any Palestinian would be against it. What is important is that our demands regarding the release of certain prisoners be implemented in accordance to the list of names given to the Egyptian brothers," Haniyeh said.
Israel, which refuses to negotiate directly with Hamas, has been pressing for progress on the Shalit case and an end to Hamas weapons smuggling as conditions for a truce.
Hamas has demanded Israel ease its blockade on Gaza by opening border crossings in return for calm. The Islamist group has spurned Western demands to recognize Israel and end violence.
Haniyeh said a delegation of Hamas officials from Gaza and Damascus would arrive in Cairo on Saturday to hear Israel's position regarding the truce.
"NATIONAL PRIORITY"
Egypt has been trying for months to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah faction a year ago.
Gilad said in his radio interview that the release of Shalit was a "national priority" immediately following the declaration of a ceasefire.
"The Gilad Shalit issue stands on its own; it is an individual target. We have to free him and bring him home," he said.
Shalit was captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid on an Israeli army base two years ago. The militants have demanded that Israel free hundreds of detained Palestinians in exchange for his release.
On Wednesday, Israel said it would support Egyptian efforts to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip, but instructed the army to prepare for possible military action in the coastal territory if mediation failed.
The decision by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet to hold off militarily for now followed Hamas's release of a hand-written letter by Shalit.
Gilad said the decision to delay troop action in Gaza allowed his trip to Egypt to go ahead, but that the military was nevertheless preparing to move into Gaza if needed.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Firouz Sedarat in Dubai; Editing by Jeremy Lovell)
