Hamas could be swept out of power by the Arab Spring if the Palestinian Authority is able to show "tangible" results from peace negotiations with Israel, a top U.S. diplomat said Thursday.

"The Palestinians are no more immune to the currents of change and demand for democratization, reform and freedom than any of the other people in the region," said Ambassador David Hale, the U.S. envoy for Middle East Peace.

The U.N. Security Council could vote as early as November 11 on whether to grant the Palestinians full U.N. membership as a state, a top Western diplomat said Wednesday.

"There will be further discussions on 11 of November with possibly a vote (that would mark) the end of the consideration process," the diplomat said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday hailed the release of dual-nationality Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as "a huge relief for France", voicing hope that stalled peace talks could now restart.

Sarkozy said that Shalit, captured by Gaza-based Palestinian militants in 2006 and released on Tuesday in exchange for Israel freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, would "soon" travel to France.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Tuesday that Israel would release all prisoners in its jails, urging it to resume peace negotiations based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

He said: “The prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinians should stand as a lesson to Israel that its policies of war and aggression are useless.”

Turkey claims "very significant contributions" for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Anatolia news agency quoted deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc as saying on Tuesday.

"In this exchange ... and in protecting the life of Shalit until today, Turkey made very significant contributions," Arinc said without elaborating.

Israel on Sunday published the official list of the 477 Palestinian prisoners to be released on Tuesday in the first stage of a deal for the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

The list of 450 Palestinian men and 27 women was published by Israel's justice ministry on the website of the Israel Prisons Service, to give the public 48 hours to lodge any legal appeals against the deal which will see the return of Shalit, who has spent more than five years in captivity.

Israel has formally submitted plans for a new settlement neighborhood in annexed east Jerusalem in what will be the first sector's first new district in 14 years, Peace Now said on Friday.

The new district, Givat HaMatos, will be located on the southern flank of east Jerusalem which lies close to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, in what the settlement watchdog described as the first neighborhood to be planned since the establishment of Har Homa in 1997.

The United States' special envoy for Middle East peace, David Hale, will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during his visit to Paris, the U.S. embassy here said Thursday.

"Hale is going to meet with Abbas," embassy spokesman Paul Patin told Agence France Presse. He could not say when the meeting would take place or provide other details.

Israeli and Hamas officials announced late Tuesday that they have reached a prisoner swap deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exhange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, capping five years of painful negotiations that have repeatedly collapsed in fingerpointing and violence.

The deal would bring home Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006 by Palestinian militants who burrowed into Israel and dragged him into Gaza. Little has been known about his fate since then.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she will call Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Monday to try to set a date for a restart of stalled peace talks.

Speaking at the close of talks between European Union foreign ministers, Ashton said she would call "to invite them to meet in the coming days."