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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Talks to free Israeli soldier halted: Hamas

Updated at: 1536 PST, Tuesday, February 02, 2010
LONDON: Negotiations between Hamas and Israel over a prisoner swap involving captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have stopped, a senior official in the Islamist movement said in an interview aired Tuesday. "Up to this moment, we fail to achieve this process," Mahmud Zahar told the British broadcaster. "After the interference of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there was a big regression and retraction. For this reason, everything has stopped," said Zahar, one of the leaders of Hamas in its Gaza Strip stronghold. Although Israel is reportedly prepared to release about 450 prisoners in exchange for Shalit, Netanyahu has vowed not to free several high-profile Palestinians who Hamas insist must be part of any deal. Shalit, now 23, was captured by Hamas fighters and militants from two other groups in a cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006.

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