Bahrain calls for 'hostage trade'

The Bahraini crown prince Friday called for a "hostage trade" between Hamas and Israel in order to achieve a break in hostilities that he said could lead to an end to the war on Gaza.Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa also said that security would not be realised without a two-state solution, in which he described the United States as "indispensable" in achieving."It is a time for straight talking," he said, urging Hamas to release Israeli women and children held hostage in Gaza and for Israel in exchange to release from its prisons Palestinian women and children, who he described as non-combatants."The intention is to break so people can take stock, can bury their dead, people can finally start to grieve and maybe people can start to ask themselves about the intelligence failure that led to this crisis in the first place," he said.Prince Salman, speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue, also called for Palestinian elections, once the war ends, that would lead to a "just and lasting peace" that he described as the establishment of an Palestinian state which he said would also lead to security and stability for Israel."This conflict has been an ongoing, open wound in the Middle East for the past 80 years," he said.