Peres and Mubarak Discuss Shalit, Palestinian Talks

In his meeting Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, President Shimon Peres said there is progress towards securing the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since June 2006, but that it's better not to talk too much about it in public.

At a joint news conference with Mubarak, Peres said that the Israeli government has stated that with the launching of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, no new settlements would be built, and that the expropriation of land would be stopped, along with the evacuation of settlements that were built illegally.

President Mubarak said Egypt wants to work towards stopping settlement construction on occupied lands, including in Jerusalem, and is interested in seeing the permanent status negotiations resume from where they were left off under the previous Israeli government of Ehud Olmert.

Peres told Mubarak that Jerusalem is not a settlement.The Al-Arabiyeh network is reporting that Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip and the organization's foreign headquarters in Damascus are to meet Monday in Cairo to discuss the latest offer made by Israel on the matter of Gilad Shalit. There is no confirmation of this report anywhere else.

Al-Arabiyeh cites Israeli sources as saying that the German mediator presented a list to Hamas on Friday of the names of Palestinian prisoners over whom there are differences of opinion between Israel and Hamas, and Israel is said to be waiting for an answer from Hamas.

Israeli and Hamas sources are referred to in the report as saying that if an agreement is reached on the list, the deal would take place in the coming days. The deal reportedly includes the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, 70 of whom are the subject of the differences between Israel and Hamas, in exchange for Gilad Shalit.(23,00)