MFA SENIOR ADVISOR ON SOLIMAN TALKS IN ISRAEL

S E C R E T CAIRO 000986 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2018 TAGS: PREL KPAL PTER IS EG SUBJECT: MFA SENIOR ADVISOR ON SOLIMAN TALKS IN ISRAEL REF: A. CAIRO 970 ¶B. CAIRO 861 Classified By: ECPO Mincouns William R. Stewart for reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (S/NF) MFA Senior Advisor and Spokesman Hossam Zaki told us May 13 that EGIS Chief Omar Soliman's May 12 talks in Israel were "not very good." He said that Prime Minister Olmert and Israeli Defense Minister Barak told Soliman that Israel is willing to agree to a partial tahdiya ("calming") where the IDF would not attack Gaza as long as ISRAEL was not attacked. However, the Israelis would not agree to open border crossings to Palestinians, although they agreed to continue to allow fuel into Gaza. Zaki said that ISRAEL needs the release of Shalit as part of a cease-fire deal. He also said that ISRAEL wants some kind of Palestinian Authority (PA)-Hamas reconciliation as part of the agreement in order to avoid the perception that ISRAEL is reaching a deal with Hamas and thereby undermining PA President Abbas' standing. Zaki said Egypt is not surprised at this Israeli position and noted that Foreign Minister Aboul-Gheit predicted to the Secretary in December 2007 that there would eventually be a PA-Hamas reconciliation where Hamas would be integrated into the PA. ¶2. (S/NF) In contrast, Zaki said Hamas wants a deal on Shalit to be separate from a "calming" agreement, believing that in this way they would be able to extract the release of a greater number of Hamas prisoners from ISRAEL in exchange for Shalit. He speculated that perhaps ISRAEL thinks it could release fewer prisoners in exchange for Shalit in the context of a "calming" deal because the prisoner exchange would be only one item in a larger "package" as opposed to the sole focus. He said the "major Palestinians" are coming to Cairo "in a few days" to discuss the "calming" with the GOE. ¶3. (S/NF) Also onMay 13, MFA Palestinian Affairs Director Badr Abdelatty told us he believes Hamas will try to use Shalit as leverage to gain the release of high-value prisoners "with blood on their hands" who would otherwise remain in jail for life. SCOBEY