by Saud Abu Ramadan

    GAZA. Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The indirect talks mediated by Germany and Egypt between Hamas movement and Israel over finalizing a prisoners' swap deal in Cairo achieved unprecedented progress, an Arab newspaper reported on Tuesday.

    The London-based Saudi Arabian newspaper al-Hayat revealed someof the details of the ongoing talks which aimed at finalizing the swap deal. The daily quoted sources as saying that the talks have witnessed a tangible progress during the past few days.

    The indirect talks were mediated by Germany under Egypt's sponsorship, said the sources, adding that Cairo would witness on Tuesday intensive multilateral talks between Israel, Hamas, Germany and Egypt.

    The sources said that Israel agreed to free the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on condition that he should go back his home in Ramallah, instead of being exiled out of the country.

    According to the sources, Israel also agreed to free Fatah movement's central committee member Marwan al-Barghouti, adding that al-Barghouti family have been notified that Marwan would be included among the freed prisoners.

    The German mediator has got Israeli guarantees that Israel won't arrest, target or assassinate any of the freed prisoners, which were demanded by the captors of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, added the sources.

    "The coming two days will be very decisive," said the sources, adding that differences are now related to a small number of prisoners, residents of east Jerusalem and Israel, in addition to one or two prisoners from the West Bank.

    "Israel insisted not releasing those prisoners, but under German pressure, Israel changed its position and agreed to free most of them," said the sources.

    Meanwhile, an Islamic Hamas movement delegation, headed by Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, would hold talks on Tuesday with the German Mediator to finalize the prisoner swap deal between themovement and Israel, sources close to Hamas said.

    The source told the Gaza-based local news agency Sama that Hamas delegation and the German mediator will discuss the final form of the agreement between Hamas and Israel over releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of captive Israeli soldier in Gaza Gilad Shalit.

    "The meeting between Hamas leaders and the German mediator willbe held in Cairo later on Tuesday, which is arranged by the Egyptian government," said the sources, who expected that the dealwould be finalized by the weekend.

    Meanwhile, Israeli Radio reported on Tuesday that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held talks on telephone with Egypt's intelligence chief Omer Suleiman over the release of Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

    Israeli President Shimon Peres said Sunday negotiations for therelease of an abducted Israeli soldier from Hamas have seen "real progress," local daily Ha'aretz reported.

    "There is no doubt that real progress has been made on the issue of Gilad Shalit, but the details must be kept behind the scene," Peres was quoted as saying upon his return from an official visit to Egypt, where the government has been trying to broker a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas.

    Since Shalit was taken away by Hamas-led Palestinian militants more than three years ago, public pressure has been piling upon the Israeli government, yet all the attempts made so far failed toyield any results.

    The 23-year-old is now believed to be in good shape and held somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

    Late last week, Hamas announced that it had reached an agreement with other armed groups in Gaza to halt rocket fire at Israel in order to avoid Israel's retaliation, in a development adding to the expectation that a deal is in the cards.

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts