CAIRO: Following the high profile prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel last week, the generally cooled tempers between Hamas and Fatah might be warming up. After meeting to discuss the details around the swap in Cairo, both Hamas officials and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed will to renew peace talks on grounds of the reconciliation deal, which was signed on May 4. Hamas official Izzat ar-Rishiq said Saturday that officials of the opposing authorities will meet in Cairo next month. “Hamas is concerned to make this meeting a success,” ar-Rishiq commented. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, exiled to Damascus, has called Abbas to update him on the Shalit prisoner swap and suggested that Palestinians welcome home prisoners with a united front. The Shalit prisoner swap has prompted fierce speculations on the implications of the newly found cooperation between Hamas and Israel. The sudden common interest of the warring parties in this matter came as a surprise to many. Israel is understood to prefer negotiating with the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority rather than the Gaza-based Hamas. While parts of Israeli press proclaimed an era of new, more peaceful communications with Hamas, leader of the Israeli opposition party Kadima, Tzipi Livni is concerned. She fears that the deal has strengthened and legitimized the Hamas, which has been dubbed a terrorist group in most western countries. Livni believes the second part of the swap deal must be negotiated with the moderate Ramallah-based Abbas government, so that Hamas is not bolstered at the expense of the Palestinian Authority. Second part of the swap is set to take off on Wednesday. This will see the remaining 550 prisoners out of the original 1,027 prisoners freed in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. “Israel's military defense is weakening,” she stated, calling on Israeli leaders to restart the peace process with the PA as a “matter of national interest”. “Israel must show that the country wants sustainable peace, not just bargains over kidnapped soldiers,” she said. BM
