Israel Matzav: Hamas turns down Shalit offer?

Hamas turns down Shalit offer?

Al-Arabiya reported on Tuesday that the Hamas terror organization has turned down Israel's latest offer to free hundreds of 'Palestinian' terrorists in exchange for kidnapped IDF corporal Gilad Shalit.

A report on Arab media Al Arabiya Tuesday said that Hamas has decided to reject Israel's latest proposals to trade some 1,000 terrorists for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The report said that Hamas was demanding that Israel release all the terrorists on its list, including top terrorists that Israel refused to release. The terror group also demanded that more of the terrorists be allowed to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria, while Israel demanded that most of them be exiled to Gaza or deported abroad.

A Hamas spokesperson denied the report, saying that the group has not yet made up its mind.

But a later report by Haaretz indicates that the al-Arabiya report really was incorrect.

Senior Hamas officials on Tuesday said they would continue to discuss an Israeli proposal for a prisoner exchange deal that would free Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, after Al-Arabiya television reported the Islamist group had rejected the swap.

"The negotiations are still ongoing and continuing," Osama Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman in Beirut, said.

Hamdan and Mohammed al-Nasr, of Hamas' political bureau, both denied reports by Al-Arabiya satellite channel that the Islamist movement's leadership in Syria had rejected key details of the swap proposal.

He added that the movement remained in contact with the German negotiator shuttling between the Israeli government and Hamas officials.

A Hamas official in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity, likewise said the group's exiled political leaders in Damascus were in "continuous meetings" over a possible deal, which could see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, who was abducted in a 2006 cross-border raid.

My guess is that Hamas in Gaza really wants to go through with the deal, but the 'leadership' in Damascus, which is under a lot less pressure, is opposed.

Israel Matzav: Hamas turns down Shalit offer?