Gaza/Damascus -Hamas has postponed its deliberations over Israel's latest offer pn a prisoners swap until after the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which begins Friday, officials of the Palestinian Islamist movement said Thursday. The negotiations focus on several hundred imprisoned Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Nazal, a Hamas leader based in Syria, clarified this did not mean the indirect negotiations with Israel - mediated by Germany and Egypt - had broken down, and that it was too premature to talk about a failure.
"The talks are still going on," he told reporters in Damascus overnight.
"In my opinion, we have reached an advanced stage in the negotiations compared with the previous rounds. The deal won't be finalized before Eid ul-Adha or during it," said Nazal.
He said it could still be finalized after the holiday, but would give no specific date.
The suspension of the internal deliberations nonetheless points at difficulties within Hamas with the Israeli offer.
One camp within the radical movement ruling Gaza is said to lean toward accepting it, while another camp still insists on the initial list of names of prisoners that Hamas had submitted to Israel via the German mediator.
Israel is said to have refused the release of some 70 hardcore militants on that list. It is also said to insist on deporting abroad a number of militants whom it considers still dangerous.
The camp leaning toward accepting the latest compromise submitted to Hamas by the German mediator is said to be headed by the Gaza leadership, including de-facto Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, while the movement's exiled Damascus-leadership, headed by Khaled Mashaal is said to be more hardline.
Nazal would not detail the obstacles obstructing an agreement, saying only Hamas still stood by its demand to release Palestinians with Israeli citizenship - from East Jerusalem and Arab towns in Israel.
Osama Hamdan, another senior Hamas leader based in Damascus, earlier said his movement remained "serious about reaching an agreement soon."
"The talks over finalizing the deal will continue," he told reporters late Wednesday.
