Barak Confirms ‘Grain of Truth’ in Shalit Talks Report
Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed on Tuesday that there was “a grain of truth” to reports of renewed negotiations taking place in Cairo for a prisoner swap deal to secure the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
Barak told Israel’s 103 FM, however, that despite the validity of the rumors he “preferred not to say anything [about the negotiations], because it doesn’t help.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported that Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal was due to arrive in Cairo to begin a third round of indirect talks with Israel over a prisoner swap deal.
The report quoted Palestinian sources saying that the Israeli negotiators were showing willingness to compromise, especially over issues such as releasing jailed Israeli Arabs and East Jerusalem residents. Sources also said an agreement has been reached over the number of prisoners who would be deported from the West Bank after their release.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Fast Forward ‘New Jersey tough’: Gov. Phil Murphy on released Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, a Tenafly native
-
Fast Forward Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, to Red Cross
-
Fast Forward In Tenafly, NJ, a crowd awaits the release of local son Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.