GAZA CITY, 13 September 2006 — Hamas yesterday said that it does not have any problem with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas starting peace talks with Israel, but the movement itself will not initiate talks. Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah party are to share power in a national unity government agreed Monday.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the outgoing government, said Hamas is ready to give Abbas a chance to pursue his agenda. “We have no problem that this government should have peace talks with Israel,” he told Israel’s Army Radio in Hebrew.

Speaking later, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the government will not actually be involved in any peace talks, because negotiations are supposed to be handled by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is also headed by Abbas.

“The negotiations, this responsibility, is related to the PLO, not to the Palestinian government,” he said.

Hamad said the Palestinians would also be ready to establish an independent state in territories occupied by Israel after the 1967 Middle East war — the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

While he said Hamas will not recognize Israel’s right to exist — a key demand by Israel and the West — the new coalition agreement is based on a platform that many believe implies recognition of the Jewish state.

That proposal calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel — effectively abandoning the Hamas goal of destroying the Jewish state — and accepts UN resolutions that call for compromise with Israel.

The Hamas announcement came as an Israeli military judge ordered the release of 21 Hamas officials detained in a dragnet launched after a soldier was captured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

A lawyer for the detainees said the release ordered by Ofer military court would be on bail, and that the roster included three Palestinian Cabinet ministers, one of them a Parliament member, as well as 18 other lawmakers. The Israeli Army had no immediate comment on the terms of the release or why it was ordered but said implementation would be deferred until tomorrow so prosecutors could appeal.

“Twenty-one Hamas officials are to be released, but this has been put on hold for 48 hours so the prosecution can file challenges,” an army spokesman said, adding that a successful appeal would put the release on hold.

Israeli forces took at least 30 Hamas officials into custody after Cpl. Gilad Shalit was captured in a June 25 raid.

Israel said the detainees were suspected of offenses linked to Hamas’ role in spearheading a 6-year-old Palestinian intifada. But Palestinians accused Israel of rounding up “bargaining chips” to force Shalit’s release.

A senior aide to Haniyeh said the court’s decision represented “significant progress” in securing Shalit’s release. “The military court decision is part of a deal coming together to release Shalit, and in the coming days more will be known,” Ahmed Youssef told Israel Radio.

Earlier, President Abbas called on Tel Aviv to release the abducted ministers, MPs and other officials before the formation of the new unity government.

— Additional input from agencies