Has Egypt Given Up on Shalit?

The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) has stated that Egyptian mediators are out of the picture in Israeli efforts to gain the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit because Hamas leaders in Damascus feel that Egypt is acting according to American instructions. Hamas has denied the report, but it is not clear which faction of Hamas is in control of the hostage.

Abdul al-Majid, leader of the Damascus-based PPSF, stated that Hamas thinks Egypt is putting more pressure on Hamas than on Israel. "It is believed that the internal dialogue being held in Egypt between Hamas and Fatah will not be fruitful because of the bias of the mediators in favor of the Palestinian Authority (Fatah)," he said in a report published by the International Middle East Media Center.

Al-Majid said Shalit's fate is now in the hands of Norway and Switzerland after Egypt failed to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Al-Majid said Shalit's fate is now in the hands of Norway and Switzerland after Egypt failed to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The PPSF is a small extremist group which split off first from Fatah and then from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970's, believing its former leader, terrorist Yasser Arafat, to be too moderate. Eventually the organization split again, with half the group remaining with its founder, Dr. Samir Ghawshah in Judea and Samaria, and the other half opposing it from exile in Damascus, led by al-Majid.

Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a written statement, "The reports on moving Shalit's case from Egypt to other Arab parties are inaccurate and untrue." He added that Egypt has halted its mediated talks until Israel is more compromising and that Hamas "is not in a hurry to finalize it."

Hamas is demanding that Israel re-open all Gaza crossings on a full scale, and that Israel and Egypt agree to open the international crossing at the divided city of Rafiah.

The terrorist group also has demanded that Israel free more than 1,000 terrorists, including known murderers with "blood on their hands" in return for Shalit, who is believed to be alive and well.

Israel has said that the current Gaza ceasefire calls for the release of Shalit in return for opening the border crossing at Rafiah. Shalit was kidnapped in a cross-border raid at a Gaza crossing by Hamas and other terrorists on June 25, 2006. Two other soldiers died in the attack.