Khaled Mashaal (Hamas) promises Obama administration, international community, to be part of the solution, organization eager for ceasefire, and return of Gilad Shalit

Mashaal: Hamas Will Be Part of Any Solution

05/05/2009 “I promise the American administration and the international community that we will be part of the solution, period,” Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal told the New York Times in an interview published Monday.   He added that his organization was eager for a ceasefire with Israel and for a deal that would return captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for many Palestinian detainees.   The interview was held in the office of Hamas’ political bureau chief in Damascus, after Mashaal was reelected to head the bureau for the fourth time. The five-hour interview spread over two days and was conducted by the New York Times’ correspondent in the Syrian capital, Taghreed el-Khoudary, who reported that the Hamas leader gave off an air of serene self-confidence.   This was Mashaal’s first interview to an American news organization in a year, and its goal, he said, was “to understand Hamas is to listen to its vision directly.”   Mashaal reiterated stances voiced in the past, in regards to the Palestinian resistance group’s willingness to sign a long-term truce with a state on the 1967 borders, including occupied east Jerusalem and the right of return.   Asked what “long-term” meant, he said 10 years. He refused, however, to recognize the Zionist entity’s existence, clarifying that “there is only one enemy in the region, and that is Israel.”   In this context, Mashaal noted that Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas had granted such recognition, but to no avail. “Did that recognition lead to an end of the occupation? It’s just a pretext by the United States and Israel to escape dealing with the real issue and to throw the ball into the Arab and Palestinian court,” he said.   The Hamas leader explained the current lull on the ground by saying that his organization has stopped firing rockets at the occupied territories “for now”. However, he did not provide a clear explanation for the reasons for the truce, apart from saying that it “serves the Palestinians’ interest.”   “After all, the firing is a method, not a goal,” he said. “Resistance is a legitimate right, but practicing such a right comes under an evaluation by the movement’s leaders.”   Asked about the Hamas charter, which calls for the obliteration of Israel through jihad and cites as fact the infamous anti-Semitic forgery”, Mashaal did not offer to revoke the charter, but said it was 20 years old. “We are shaped by our experiences,” he added.   The Hamas leader went on to express his satisfaction with US President Barack Obama, whose language, he said, “is different and positive.” However, he expressed unhappiness about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying hers “is a language that reflects the old administration policies.”   Mashaal, who barely escaped assassination at the hands of Israeli agents in 1997 in Jordan, was asked if he feared assassination. He replied by saying that he did not fear and would view it as martyrdom. “Death has become like drinking water,” he concluded.

Hamas demanding release of 1,400 prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit when negotiations resume in Cairo

Ramattan News Agency

Egypt resumes brokering prisoners swap between Hamas and Israel

Gaza, May 5, 2009 (RAMATTAN) – Egypt resumed its efforts to broker a prisoner exchange deal between Palestinian Hamas movement and Israel, sources said on Tuesday.   According to the sources, which spoke on condition of anonymity, the discussions will start “very soon” prior to the fifth round of inter-Palestinian dialogue that would be held in Cairo in the middle of this month.   The talks will be resumed “from the last point it reached before they stopped,” said the sources. They aim at securing the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier which Hamas captured in 2006, in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.   Hamas demands Israel to free 450 prisoners, mostly those of life sentence and leaders of the Palestinian groups in the first phase of the swap. Afterwards, Israel has to free 950 prisoners who will include all the patients, women and children.   The Egyptian-mediated talks stopped in February after Israel accused Hamas of making its demands harder in the last minute.

Ma’an: Fatah’s Marwan Barghouthi may be feed in Gilad Shalit swap deal

Report: Marwan Barghouthi to be released ‘within days’

Date: 15 / 02 / 2009  Time:  21:33

Jerusalem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israel is inching closer to the release of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is sentenced to five life terms for his activities with the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, during the second Intifada. Khader Shuqeirat, one of Barghuthi’s lawyers, told Israel’s Channel Ten that “It is a matter of days until Marawan will be free.” “No prisoner swap will be held without Marawan,” said Shuqeirat, “Marawan will be with his family, wife and children within days.” Israeli analyst Tsivika Yehezkili said that “many sides in Israel are considering and seriously proposing Marwan’s release as a good will gesture to President Abbas “ Channel Ten reported that other sources close to Barghouthi said that “the moment of his release is getting closer each day.” Israel’s top leaders agreed on Sunday to formulate a proposal involving the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have agreed to hold additional talks on the proposal, and could put the proposal up for a vote in the cabinet as early as Wednesday, the website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Amid reports of progress in Egyptian-brokered ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, Israel announced on Saturday that it is insisting on the release of Shalit as a part of any truce deal. It is unclear whether this means a prisoner exchange will also be a part of the truce. Another possibility, raised by Israeli analysts, is that Israel could free Barghouthi as a unilateral gesture to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Sunday, the official spokesperson of Hamas’ armed wing, Abu Ubaida, issued a statement saying that Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since 2006, would not be handed over without the release of Palestinian prisoners Abbas As-Said, Abdallah Barghouti, and Ibrahim Hamad, all of whom are accused of plotting attacks inside Israel. Hamas has insisted on the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, including Barghouthi and other high profile leaders, such as PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Sadat.

Qassam Brigades negotiating to swap Gilad Shalit for Ahmed Saadat, others

Qassam Brigades: No swap deal not including senior prisoners

[ 15/02/2009 - 08:23 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– The armed wing of the Hamas Movement, the Qassam Brigades, has expressed absolute rejection of any prisoners’ swap deal with the Israeli occupation authority that does not include senior Palestinian resistance captives. Abu Obeida, the QB spokesman, said in a press statement published by Palestine Today website on Sunday that if the IOA was really interested in concluding the exchange deal it should release “all those included on the list we have tabled”. He would not go into details of the negotiations on the deal, stressing that the four senior leaders Ahmed Saadat, PFLP secretary general, and the commanders in the QB Abdullah Al-Barghouthi, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas Al-Sayyed, should be included in the deal. The QB spokesman also rejected attempts to link the deal to any other file such as calm or opening of crossings, stressing that the exchange deal is a separate issue. The Israeli minister of internal security, Avi Dichter, had said that his government would release a big number of Palestinian prisoners in return for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held by Palestinian resistance, but underlined that if those four mentioned above persons were released the IOA would not allow their return to their homeland. Press reports had earlier suggested that the IOA was refusing the release of those four in particular. For his part, Dr. Ismail Radwan, one of Hamas’s political leaders in Gaza, said that Israeli premier Ehud Olmert’s statement that no calm agreement would be signed without releasing Shalit was political maneuvering. He explained that Olmert wanted to make a kind of achievement before he leaves office along with his scandals. Hamas does not mind expediting the exchange deal if the IOA agreed to the conditions, Barhoum said.

Hamas to announce 18 month truce with Israel within 48 hours

Abu Marzouq: Egypt will announce the Tahde’a within 48 hours

[ 13/02/2009 - 10:33 AM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)– Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouq, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, announced in Cairo that Egypt will announce an 18-month Tahde’a (truce) in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and the Palestinian resistance faction on the one hand and the Zionist entity on the other. He told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that Hamas has agreed to an 18-month Tahde’a with the Zionist side and that Egypt will announce it after contacting other resistance groups and the Zionist side. He pointed out that the issue of the captured soldier Gilad Shalit is outside this agreement, adding that Hamas aims to free Palestinian captives in exchange for Shalit and that if the Zionist side agreed to the terms of the prisoner exchange then it will take place.

Palestinian resistance: No deal on Shalit release, “The Israelis are wrong if they think the war will help them pressure us on Shalit”

PRC: No Change in Demands for Shalit Deal

22/01/2009 The Hamas movement said Thursday that no progress had been made in the talks aimed at securing a deal for the release of captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit, despite Israeli media reports.   A source in the Palestinian resistance organization said, “If the Israelis want to talk and discuss, they know where, how and with whom, but the people in Israel should know that its government is not doing a thing to advance the issue.”   Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, also said that there was no news on the Shalit issue. “The Israelis are wrong if they think the war will help them pressure us on Shalit. Our demands have not changed: The entire list of prisoners we demanded, and in addition, launching talks on lifting the siege.”   Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked earlier Thursday about the opportunity to return Shalit now that the military operation in Gaza was over, and replied, “I believe the questions about Shalit are legitimate, but my response will not advance his release. I am working, I have worked and I will work for his release.”   He claimed that the military offensive in Gaza “created leverages which could speed up Shalit’s return to Israel.”   Nonetheless, Abu Mujahed stated that serious negotiations aimed at listing the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip will lead to the start of a discussion on the Shalit issue, but that if the crossings are not opened no progress will be made. The PRC spokesman refused to address reports which surfaced at the start of “Operation Cast Lead” that Shalit had been injured, saying “no comment”.   He also noted that there would be no information for free on Shalit’s fate and condition. In response to the reports that Israeli sources, including the Shin Bet chief, are willing to transfer some of the prisoners to the Strip or abroad, Abu Mujahed said that this would be part of the negotiations and therefore it should not be discussed on the media.   Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who met her European counterparts on Wednesday night, told a press conference that the crisis in Gaza would not be resolved so long as Gilad Shalit remains in Hamas’ hands.   EGYPT FM: SHALIT’S STATUS UNKNOWN Meanwhile, Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Wednesday that neither Egypt nor Israel had information on the fate of Shalit, held by Hamas since his capture in June 2006. Whether “Shalit is alive or not is a question that needs to be studied. I have no information (about it) and I think the Israeli side does not, “he said.   ISRAEL READY TO PAY TERRIBLE PRICE FOR SHALIT An Israeli minister, who is also a member of the security cabinet, said Wednesday that the Israeli defense establishment is of the opinion that “Operation Cast Lead” has improved the chances of a deal for captured occupation soldier Gilad Shalit’s release. “There is a solid majority in the cabinet supporting the release of many murderers for Shalit’s release,” he said.   The minister went on to explain that “Shalit is the subject of a consensus both in the government and the general public, and we will be able to pay the most awful price for his release.”   Amos Gilad, the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s political-security branch, is expected to raise the issue when he arrives on Thursday in Cairo for talks with the Egyptians on the security situation following the Gaza invasion. Gilad is expected to say that Israel would not open the crossings except for humanitarian needs until negotiations for Shalit’s release are resumed. While refraining from directly negotiating with Hamas, Israel has in past talks used Egypt as a broker. Gilad will meet with head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman in Cairo. Gilad and Suleiman will continue talks on the joint effort to halt smuggling activity on the Egypt-Gaza border.   Israel and Egypt are also expected to form a joint committee to deal with arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. According to a government official, the Israeli delegation to the committee will comprise representatives from the defense establishment and the intelligence community who will try to coordinate a work program to prevent smuggling, while exchanging information about the phenomenon. “Egypt has come to realize that it has no choice but to address the smuggling,” the official said. The committee will probably include an American representative and possibly another delegate from the European Union.