Hamas Postpones Shalit Talks after Israel Rejected the Group’s Detainees’ List

Hamas Postpones Shalit Talks after Israel Rejected the Group’s Detainees’ List

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Hamas announced Wednesday that it was postponing continued negotiations on the release of captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ends on Monday. The Hamas announcement was issued in Damascus following meetings between Khaled Mashaal, the organization's politburo Chief there, and a delegation of senior Hamas representatives from Gaza.
 
The statement is not a negative answer to the compromise deal proposed by the German mediator, but it does dash Israeli hopes for reaching a quick agreement by the end of this week.
 
Senior Hamas officials told the Al-Arabiya TV network Wednesday that the talks between Hamas and Israel hit a snag over some of the Palestinian detainees the Islamic resistance group wants freed in return for Shalit, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Sa'adat. Israel is also objecting to freeing Israeli Arab detainees, said the Hamas officials.
 
A senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, Khalil Al-Haya, accused Israel of holding up negotiations. "The government of the Zionist entity has not met the demands of the organizations holding Shalit," he said. He did not say that the deal had been torpedoed or had failed, though he did say Israel was responsible for the delay in reaching a deal.
 
The American station Fox News reported that Hamas is also demanding that Israel commit to not harming the freed detainees in the future.
 
The Israeli security cabinet met Wednesday in occupied Jerusalem, but discussed the freezing of construction in the settlements. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked ministers to keep completely silent in the media on the Shalit deal.
 
The deal will have a number of components in addition to the prisoner release. Hamas is expecting the economic blockade on Gaza to be eased and a partial opening of the crossings into Israel and Egypt.
 
At the same time the United States is pressuring Netanyahu to make a number of significant good will acts on the behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose regime is expected to suffer as the prisoner release is being attributed to Hamas. The freeze on construction in West Bank settlements is considered one of these acts.
 
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Barghouti said he hopes to be freed as part of the Shalit deal, and intends to run for president in Palestinian elections. He said maybe now Israel will understand that it cannot ignore Hamas' demands. He added that the most important issue at hand is peace between Fatah and Hamas.
 
Hamas has long stated that Barghouti is among the detainees it wants released by Israel. Seen as a potential successor to Abbas, Barghouti was sentenced in 2004 to five life terms. "We are confident that Marwan will be part of the deal," said Khader Shkirat, one of his lawyers, who said he had visited Barghouti yesterday. Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Monday that Barghouti would not be swapped.
 
Among the other prisoners Israel refuses to release, reported the Egyptian newspaper Al-Hayat, are Ibrahim Hamed, the former commander of Hamas' military wing and the mastermind behind the 2002 bombing at Moment cafe in occupied Jerusalem; Abdullah Barghouti, a relative of Marwan Barghouti, and another mastermind of the Moment attack as well as attacks at Sbarro pizza parlor in occupied Jerusalem and on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. Other reports say Israel also refused to release Abbas Al-Sayyed, who planned the Passover Seder night bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002.