Sunday, August 30, 2009

President Peres on FOX Calls Deal on Shalit - 'Close'

(Foxnews).President Shimon Peres said talks with Hamas to try to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit are continuing and that “the gap has narrowed.”

"We’re in the middle of negotiations… but we didn’t reach an agreement. And in that case, we wouldn’t want to endanger his life,” Peres said Sunday in an exclusive interview with FOX News.

Asked if he thought a prisoner exchange would happen soon, President Peres said, “I think there is a chance it will happen soon, but Hamas is not an organized group of people and what they say today – they may change tomorrow.”

German magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday that German mediators are involved in the talks, and that a new proposal includes Israel releasing more than 400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

Asked about that decision, Peres told Fox News, “You’re right. It is a very difficult decision and it’s very painful. But, according to our set of values and to our way of life – the life of a single person is worth the whole world. We take care of every individual as though he would be the collective sum of many people.”