Pat Dollard | Young Americans

HARRETZ - Head of Egyptian Intelligence General Omar Suleiman has warned Hamas that the failure to include kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in a prisoner exchange with Israel will lead to a wide-spread IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, according to a report in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

“Israel will use a heavy hand against Hamas in the Gaza Strip if an agreement is not reached that secures the release of the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit” Suleiman told the second-in-command of the militant group’s political bureau Moussa Abu Marzook, according to Al-Akhbar.

Senior Palestinian officials reportedly told Al-Akhbar that even though Hamas is ready to include Shalit in a future deal, they are not willing to accept the list of prisoners Israel has offered to release in exchange for the soldier, held by the militant group since he was kidnapped and wounded by Gaza militants in a cross border raid in June 2006.

Israel has asked Egypt to incorporate a deal to free Shalit into Hamas truce talks being mediated by Cairo. The cease-fire talks will resume next week, Haaretz has learned.

A Hamas official said that the group does not oppose including Shalit in the truce deal but would agree to such a move on its own terms, Israel Radio reported on Friday.

If Egypt agrees, it would mark its return to trying to negotiate Shalit’s release, after a year’s hiatus.

General Suleiman is slated to meet a delegation of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, while the deputy head of Hamas’ Damascus-based political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzook, will travel to Cairo.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will be in Egypt on Sunday, for an international economic conference in Sharm al-Sheikh. Though Barak has no meeting scheduled with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he may take the opportunity to discuss the truce with senior Egyptian officials.

Cairo reduced its involvement in the indirect negotiations with Hamas to a minimum after the militant Islamic group took over the Gaza Strip last June, and the talks subsequently stalemated.

Palestinian sources said Hamas was likely to speed up the talks on Shalit immediately after obtaining a truce, but would not link the two issues, as Israel is demanding.

Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently told both Egyptian officials and American President George Bush that Israel would wait a few more days, but if the truce talks failed to yield an agreement by then, it would step up its military operations in Gaza.

Despite these threats, however, Israel seems to prefer a truce to military escalation. If the Egyptians conclude a cease-fire deal, and especially if it includes significant progress toward Shalit’s release, Israel would agree to a several-month truce, officials said.