GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Hamas delegation left the Gaza Strip on Sunday for Syria to talk with exiled Hamas leaders there about a prisoner swap deal with Israel.
The delegation comprises Mahmoud Zahar, a member of Hamas' politburo, and Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official based in Gaza, said Ayman Taha, a spokesman for the Islamic movement.
The visit to Syria is aimed at penning a response to an Israeli offer on the prisoner exchange, according to Taha.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday green lighted the continuation of talks on the prisoner swap deal with Hamas, saying Israel prefers to expel around 127 West Bank prisoners to Gaza or abroad.
On Wednesday, Hamas received the Israeli offer from the German mediator and requested a respite to respond to it, sources close to Hamas told Xinhua then, adding that Hamas officials need to discuss the offer with their higher leadership in Damascus.
Taha said the delegation, which left for Cairo en route to Syria, will not hold talks in Cairo with the Egyptians, who also mediate the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel.
The German mediator, Ernst Uhrlau, is scheduled to return to the region after the Christmas and New Year holiday to receive Hamas' response.
Hamas and Israel have been holding indirect talks through Germany and Egypt to finalize the prisoner swap deal in which Hamas asked Israel to release around 1,000 prisoners to exchange the Israeli corporal it captured in a cross-border raid near Gaza in 2006.
However, Israel rejected freeing some of the prisoners Hamas demanded whom it considers a threat to Israeli security.
Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/28/content_12712485.htm.
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