Hamas says Israel is using the issue of detained Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as a pretext to stall the Egyptian-brokered truce negotiations.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, told...
Hamas says Israel is using the issue of detained Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as a pretext to stall the Egyptian-brokered truce negotiations.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Qatar-based satellite channel al-Jazeera that Israel was raising the issue as part of "a programmed operation to make the [truce] deal fail."
The remarks were made after outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the regime will not open Gaza's border crossings unless Shalit is released.
Shalit was captured by Palestinian fighters during a cross-border operation in 2006. Hamas has conditioned Shalit's freedom to the release of some 1,400 Palestinian prisoners.
"We consider that this kind of Israeli procrastination is for the aim of achieving more objectives and wasting more time and effort. But our position is still as it was, and what was agreed has to be implemented fully. Otherwise Israel will bear the consequences of any failure," Hamdan said.
Taher al-Nono, another Hamas official, told Reuters that they were trying to overcome the obstacles created by Israel, saying Israeli obstruction has been delaying the announcement of an agreement.
In Gaza, a Hamas spokesman blasted Israel's stonewalling of the ceasefire negotiations. "We condemn any attempt by the Zionist enemy to link the truce with the Shalit issue," said Mushir al-Masri.
The Islamic movement further reiterated that Shalit will be released only if certain number of Palestinian detainees are freed by Israel. Currently there are over 11,500 Palestinian prisoners, including woman children, held in Israeli jails.
Egypt has been negotiating a long-term truce agreement between Hamas and Israel to replace a temporary ceasefire which ended the recent Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
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adopted from; alwahynews
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