NAZARETH (PIC)– Three out of five Israeli ministerial committee members supported flexibility in the conditions for the release of Palestinian prisoners from occupation jails in return for the freedom of Gilad Shalit held in Gaza since summer last year.
Hebrew sources on Tuesday said that the ministers Haim Ramon Avi Dichter and Amy Ayalon were in favor of easing those conditions while the justice minister Daniel Friedmann opposed and the foreign minister Tzipi Livni did not adopt a clear stand but when she was minister of justice she had opposed the idea.
The ministerial committee appointed by premier Ehud Olmert for that purpose ended its meeting on Monday without adopting any decision and is supposed to meet again on Wednesday.
The committee headed by Ramon has no authority over the subject but is supposed to table its recommendation to Olmert who in turn would discuss it with another ministerial committee.
Meanwhile Israeli war minister Ehud Barak is to fly to Cairo on Wednesday for talks on Shalit in addition to other matters such as the Israeli charge that Egypt was not doing enough to stop smuggling of arms from Sinai into Gaza.
