By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Jul 15 (IPS) - Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday (Jul. 12) without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals -- featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilaad Shalit -- continue to run up against Israeli obduracy.......
Despite repeated requests by Hamas to reopen the Rafah crossing, Egypt, too, has kept its border with Gaza closed to all but "exceptional" cases, such as medical patients and students studying abroad.
"There is no mechanism for opening the Rafah border crossing except the 2005 border protocol," said Bassyouni. That agreement, engineered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and signed by the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority and Israel three years ago, was suspended with Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip last summer, following its election victory in 2006.
According to Kandil, the precarious nature of the ceasefire -- and the continued closure of Gaza's borders by both Israel and Egypt -- militates against the successful conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal.
"Given the circumstances, I doubt we'll see a prisoner swap any time soon," he said. "The negotiations on prisoners are based on the success of the ceasefire arrangement, and -- thanks to Israeli intransigence -- it looks like the ceasefire could collapse any moment." "
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