On Monday, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest newspaper, reported that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were getting closer to a deal that would free Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat in exchange for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Marwan Barghouti's brother estimated that the former Tanzim leader will be included in a prisoner exchange deal that will see captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel, Ynet learned on Monday.
Mukabal Barghouti said his family had been notified that the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, will also be freed by Israel. Barghouti and Saadat will be sent to the West Bank upon their release, the brother said.
Jerusalem was quick to clamp down on the report, with Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom denying that any such deal was in the works. According yo Yedioth, Shalom said that "any deal concocted for Shalit's release would have to be presented to the public, the Knesset, and cabinet before it could be approved." He also ruled out those two names.
Currently in London, Shalom told the Arabic-language BBC that [Barghouti and Saadat] would not be included in a list of prisoners to be exchanged for Shalit.
Today, however both Yedioth and London-based al-Hayat report that the deal is still very much alive, and could be imminent:
But on Tuesday, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat published a similar report, and quoted Palestinian sources as saying that unprecedented progress has been made in talks, and that Israel has agreed to release both Saadat and Barghouti.
According to the report, Israel has agreed to allow Saadat to return to his home in Ramallah, despite its prior insistence that he be exiled out of the West Bank.
The paper further reported that Israel has agreed to release Barghouti and that his family had received a report that his name was on the list of prisoners slated to be released.
What would this prisoner exchange mean in the broader context of I/P? Possibly nothing--exchanges have happened before, and they clearly didn't bring anything resembling a lasting peace. But it could also be a sign of thawing relations between the two sides, and if the exchange actually happens, perhaps an indicator that it is OK for Hamas/the PA to sit down with Israel (and vice-versa) without the preconception that it is an exercise in futility.
At least, one can hope...