A senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement said Thursday that the door for completing a prisoner swap deal with Israel "has not been closed," , according to dpa. Mahmoud al-Zahar, member of Hamas politburo told reporters as a Hamas delegation crossed into the Gaza Strip from Egypt through Rafah border crossing that the indirect talks on the prisoners" deal were not over. "Hamas didn"t close the door for (Gilad) Shalit"s deal," al-Zahar told reporters. "Debates and discussions are still going on in Hamas although we have some reservations on the recent Israeli offer." Hamas movement"s leadership held two-day intensive talks in Damascus to discuss an Israeli offer on releasing captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. After the debates of the Israeli offer in Damascus finished, Hamas said that the Israeli offer was not accepted, but it would ask the German mediator to continue his efforts until the deal between Hamas and Israel was finalized. Hamas leader did not say if the movement handed its response to the German mediator in Cairo or whether it will hand him its response later in Gaza. Al-Zahar said that upon his return from Damascus to Cairo with two other senior Hamas leaders, the delegation discussed with the Egyptian officials the Shalit deal, inter-Palestinian reconciliation and the steel barrier being built by Egypt at the Gaza-Egyptian border.
