The head of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, a senior Egyptian security official said, amid reports that a new round of talks on a prisoner swap with Israel was due to start in Egypt, Reuters reported. The security official said Meshaal, who arrived with a delegation from Hamas, met with Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss reconciliation between his group and Fatah Movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and also touched on the issue of the prisoner swap. "The meeting dealt with an assortment of issues mainly the Palestinian reconciliation. The prisoner swap was discussed on the margins of the meeting," the official told Reuters, without giving further details. Egypt has been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas over a prisoner deal that would see the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit -- captured in a cross-border raid in 2006 -- in exchange for about 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. -- SPA
