DAMASCUS: Hamas is interested in a prisoner exchange with Israel “as soon as possible,” said the chief of the group in Damascus.
Speaking at a rally marking the holy month of Ramadan late on Saturday, Khaled Meshaal was referring to Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid by Hamas-linked Gaza fighters in June 2006. Talks mediated by Egypt have so far failed to produce an exchange. “Hamas is interested in completing the prisoner swap as soon as possible ... but we can’t accept Israeli blackmail,” Meshaal said, explaining that Hamas has demanded the release of some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners but Israel has agreed to release only 450.
Senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, Israel’s point man in the indirect Egyptian-mediated negotiations with Hamas, said Wednesday that the talks over Shalit’s release have gone better since a truce went into effect in June, but a deal is “not close.”
On the internal Palestinian front, Meshaal said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not be considered legitimate in his post early next year when his term ends unless he wins “legitimate elections.”
The deep rift between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah group goes back to June 2007 after fighters loyal to Hamas forcibly seized control of the Gaza Strip.
Abbas branded the Hamas takeover as a “coup” and sacked the Hamas-led unity government. Since then, Abbas has resumed peace talks with Israel.
Meshaal said Hamas would not recognize any deal reached between Abbas and Israel unless it guarantees Palestinian rights, chief among them the “right of return.” He also urged Arab countries to break an Israeli siege imposed on Gaza for more than a year and pledged that the Rafah crossing would not be used in a way that contradicts the will of the international community.
