Swap a 'victory for resistance'
2008-07-16 11:42
Gaza City - The Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas said a prisoner swap on Wednesday between Israel and the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah was a "victory for the resistance".
"Hamas considers the exchange of prisoners between Hezbollah and the Israeli occupation to be a great victory for the resistance and Hezbollah," spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
"It proves that a useful way to liberate prisoners from the jails of the occupation is to capture Zionist soldiers, since the occupation refuses to release prisoners and keeps arresting more of them," it added.
The reaction came as Israel and Hezbollah were in the process of exchanging the remains of two Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of about 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
The capture of the two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006 sparked a 34-day Lebanon war that killed about 1 200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and about 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Hamas, which has ruled the impoverished Gaza Strip since seizing power in June 2007, has for months been negotiating a similar exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in a June 2006 raid.
It has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, including several veteran fighters accused of carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis.
Hamas vowed to "exert every effort to free our prisoners" and said Israel bore sole responsibility for delaying Shalit's return to his family.