Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal is expected to head to Cairo next week to meet with the German mediator involved in a prisoner swap deal between the Palestinian movement and Israel, media reports said on Friday, according to dpa. The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat newspaper quoted Egyptian sources as saying that the German mediator is in Cairo and has already held several meetings with Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader from the Gaza Strip. The prisoner exchange deal involves Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006. Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons in exchange for the 23- year-old soldier. German mediators have recently become involved in the prisoner swap deal, as talks previously mediated by Egypt have so far been unsuccessful.
