Ceasefire talks

Egypt’s intelligence chief visited Israel this week to try to hammer out a truce between Israel and Hamas

Omar Soleiman, Egypt’s intelligence chief, visited Israel this week to try to hammer out a truce between Israel and Hamas, as well as other Palestinian factions. 

But for a truce to work, Israel has set one condition: that Hamas releases an Israeli soldier held since June 2006.
 
But Hamas rejects that condition, saying that any deal on the soldier is separate from the truce agreement. And the group insists that a deal on the soldier is possible only if Israel releases key Hamas leaders imprisoned in Israeli jails.
 
Now that the impasse lingers, what’s the next step? Will Israel escalate its war on Hamas in Gaza? Will Hamas escalate firing its rockets against Israel? And what about Egypt? What price will it pay in this tense atmosphere?
 
Inside Story, with presenter Kamahl Santamaria, discusses.

Watch part one of this episode of Inside Story

Watch part two of this episode of Inside Story

This episode of Inside Story aired on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 17:30 GMT

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