Well-informed Palestinian source revealed on Saturday that Germany will resume its mediation between Israel and Hamas movement next week to release captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for
hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli Radio quoted the source as saying that the German mediator Arnest Aurlaw will travel to the Gaza Strip in the middle of next week to receive the final response of Hamas to the Israeli proposals related to finalizing the deal.
The source accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of trying to obstruct the deal in fear of an increase in Hamas popularity among the
Palestinians.
The United States expects that the prisoners' swap deal between Israel and Hamas would weaken the popularity of the PNA among the Palestinians, the
source added.
Israeli television channel 10 has earlier reported on Saturday that Hamas has accepted the Israeli proposals, adding that the deal is expected
to see the light next week.
However, Hamas officials refuse to talk in details about the deal, but they admitted that a significant progress has been achieved in the talks
that were held last week in Cairo.
Meanwhile, Israeli media has earlier on Saturday reported that Egypt had beefed up its security presence on its border with the Gaza Strip to ensure the release of Shalit.