Up on MSNBC now:

“ROME - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the release of an Israeli soldier abducted in Gaza could be “imminent.”

“There are ongoing efforts that lead us to believe in an imminent solution,” Abbas said, speaking through a translator, after a meeting in Rome with Italian Premier Romano Prodi.”

If true a welcome move - if true. It seems as if Abbas is brokering a deal to win friends and influence enemies. We’ll see.