CAIRO: A German envoy sent to mediate talks between Israel and Hamas arrived in Cairo on Monday. Hamas is scheduled to arrive in the next few days to hold Palestinian reconciliation talks and possibly also prisoner exchanges. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldier Gilad Shalit was taken captive by Hamas and been held for years and according to a German news agency, Israel may be willing to negotiate his release for the exchange of a few hundred Palestinian prisoners. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth claims the visit aims to deal with the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Palestine, as well as Israel and Egypt. According to the newspaper, Israeli sources have confirmed that German mediator Gerhard Conrad was sent to Egypt to negotiate the release of the accused Israeli spy Ilan Grapel. Hamas, distrustful of Conrad's apparent Israeli bias, has called for Egyptian mediators to remain involved in the issue. Grapel was arrested in June following several visits to Tahrir square, a focal point for the January 25 Revolution. Israel has denied Grapel is a spy, with the Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman saying he was “maybe a bit strange or irresponsible, but he has no connection to any intelligence service — not in Israel, not in the U.S., and not on Mars.” Grapel served in the IDF as a paratrooper and has claimed to have been working for a legal aid project in Cairo. His presence in Cairo was monitored before his arrest. His release would be an exchange between Egypt and Israel, with Israel releasing Egyptian prisoners. According to the United States' Defense Secretary and former Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta, Egypt must move to elections quickly, in order to put a civilian government in place. It is not yet clear whether or not Grapel will be released, yet Panetta has expressed his hopes of seeing that Egypt “take steps to release that individual.” Panetta's visit to Egypt comes after a day of meetings in Tel-Aviv and the West Bank between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in hopes the two groups resume peace talks. BM
