Hamas: Ball in Israel's court

2007-04-10 18:19

Gaza City - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said on Tuesday that the ball was in Israel's court in connection with a prisoner exchange deal for a soldier held by Gaza militants.

Haniya's comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reviewed a list of prisoners that Palestinians want freed in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a serviceman captured on June 25 by Haniya's Hamas movement and other Gaza-based militants.

"We are serious in our will to proceed with an exchange and we hope that negotiations will lead to the freeing of our detainees from the prisons of the Israeli occupier," Haniya said in Gaza City.

"The ball is in Israel's camp and everything now depends on the answer that Israel will give to the just Palestinian demand to free our prisoners," said Haniya.

Israel confirmed on Sunday it had received the list of prisoners Palestinians wanted freed through Egyptian mediators, the first sign of progress after months of deadlock.

But Israel added that many of the listed prisoners had "blood on their hands", meaning they had been involved in attacks that killed Israelis.

Government to reconsider

Israel has said it will not release such detainees, but in recent days some ministers have called for the government to reconsider that position.

Army radio reported that Olmert went through the Palestinians' list on Tuesday with Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Beth domestic security service.

A source close to the Palestinian government said the list contained the names of 450 prisoners, including such leading jailed militants as Marwan Barghuti and Ahmed Saadat, both members of the Palestinian parliament.

Barghuti, the West Bank leader of President Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah movement who is widely revered by Palestinians as the mastermind of their second uprising or intifada, is serving five life sentences for planning attacks against Israelis.

Insist on release

Saadat, leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is accused by Israel of masterminding the 2001 assassination in occupied east Jerusalem of far-right tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.

As long ago as last September, Abbas made clear that he would insist on both men's release as part of any exchange.

Olmert is expected to convene his security cabinet later this week to set Israel's criteria for clearing prisoners for release.

Shalit was captured when militants tunnelled out of Gaza and attacked an army border post.

The raid sparked a deadly Israeli air and ground offensive against the Gaza Strip that killed several hundred Palestinians before a November ceasefire came into force.

Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist snatched by militants at gunpoint on March 12, also remains captive in the Gaza Strip - the longest a foreign kidnap victim has been held in the increasingly lawless territory.

- AFP