Talks resume in Mideast prisoner swap

JERUSALEM, June 27 (UPI) -- Talks continued Friday in Cairo on a plan to swap kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for about 1,000 imprisoned Palestinians.

Shalit was abducted two years ago in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants. Hamas, the governing Palestinian party, reportedly has given Egyptian negotiators a list of 1,000 names it wants freed with Israel rejecting 75 percent of them.

Israeli security chief Yuval Diskin said he is prepared to release some prisoners "who have the blood of Israelis on their hands," so long as their risk is lessened, Haaretz reported.

The London Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat said the deal in the works would include the release of 150 Palestinian inmates in the first stage, in return for Shalit being transferred to Egypt, where his family can visit him. On Shalit's return to Israel, 800 additional prisoners would be released in two stages, the report said.