Israeli negotiators returned to Jerusalem for a Tuesday afternoon Cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after Hamas officials "hardened" their position over the release of an abducted soldier. “It became clear during the discussions that Hamas had hardened its position, reneged on understandings that had been formulated over the past year and raised extreme demands,” Olmert’s office said in a statement. Israeli Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin and the prime minister’s special envoy, Ofer Dekel, had been taking part in Egyptian-mediated talks in Cairo regarding the release of Gilad Shalit.
