Hamas Detainees Ready to Wait for Deal

Hamas Detainees Ready to Wait for Deal

06/01/2010 Hamas detainees jailed in the Israeli jails are pressuring the movement's leaders not to finalize a prisoner exchange deal which will not include the release of all the detainees demanded by the Palestinian organization.

Ynet has learned that the Hamas detainees' leadership recently conveyed a message to the movement's leaders that they are willing to wait many more months until a deal is implemented, as long as Hamas does not give in to the Israeli veto on some of the detainees on its list.

Sources in Hamas told Ynet on Tuesday evening that the message conveyed by the detainees encouraged the movement's leadership not to give up on its demand that all the detainees required by Hamas would be included in a deal securing the release of captured occupation soldier Gilad Shalit.

"We won't rush and won't give in to any Israeli attempt to avoid the understandings already received, or to the recent Israeli toughening," one of the sources said.

"Our list is known, our demands are familiar and our prisoners and their family members support us. Everyone understands that we want the prisoners released, but they understand very well that without a deal many prisoners will stay behind, and therefore the message is not to give up and not to compromise."

Meanwhile, the Hamas leadership in Gaza has not revealed any details from the discussions held in the past few days, and its conclusions were relayed Tuesday to German mediator Gerhard Konrad. But sources in Hamas have reiterated that it was made clear that the latest Israeli proposal was insufficient.

Nonetheless, Hamas is not slamming the door on the agreement. "The movement is interested in continuing the negotiations," a movement sources said Tuesday morning.

The organization understands that a possible diplomatic move between Israel and the Palestinians, sponsored by Egypt and the United States, may make it difficult to make a breakthrough in the Shalit affair, and that it is quite possible that the efforts will be halted in the near future, as each side is insisting on its demands.

Hamas deputy politburo chief Mousa Abu Marzouk said Tuesday that Israel's latest offer on a deal was a retreat from its prior stance. "This is the Israelis' way, every time we got close to reaching an agreement – they withdrew in the last minute," Abu Marzouk told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper.

The Hamas deputy hinted that a deal was far from being reached: "The German mediator is not the first mediator, and he won't be the last. We are sticking to our demands, and are working to achieve an honorable exchange deal that will free our heroic prisoners, who have paid a heavy price for the homeland. We will not give up on them, and this is the movement's commitment to them."

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