Cairo, July 09: The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak holds Tel Aviv responsible for the breakdown of a deal which could result in the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
On Thursday, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) released parts of Mubarak’s interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot to be published on Friday.
Shalit was about to be transferred to Egypt when Israel changed its terms for a planned prisoner swap, Mubarak says in the interview.
“There are terms for ending the problem of Gilad Shalit and we were on the verge of resolving it but you delayed the matter,” he said.
“We were on the verge of receiving Shalit from Hamas and of putting him with us until you released some Palestinian (prisoners).”
Shalit was captured by Palestinian fighters during a cross border operation in 2006.
Hamas says it would release Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners whose names have been delivered to Israeli officials.
However, Israel imposed new conditions on the prisoner swap deal, linking the release of Shalit with the re-opening of Gaza borders – a move that eventually led to the deal falling apart.
—–Agencies