Hamas says willing to provide fresh information on Shalit
Moussa Abu Marzouk tells the Guardian Israeli soldier will be released 'only in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners'; adds: Now there is global support for Hamas and not just in the Arab and Muslim worlds
Hamas has called for international pressure on Israel to force the border crossings open to relieve the humanitarian crisis after last month's war, the Guardian reported on Friday.
In an interview with the British paper, Deputy Hamas politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouk flatly rejected Israel's demand that captive soldier Gilad Shalit be released in return for lifting the blockade on Gaza, but did signal that fresh information about Shalit might be provided if Israel moved Palestinian prisoners being held in solitary confinement to normal cells, released unwell female prisoners and published information on the Hamas gunmen Imad and Adel Abdullah, who, according to the Islamist group, have been abducted by Israeli forces.
Abu Marzouk accused Israel of backtracking over a truce agreement and warned that Shalit would only be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. "We will not change our position," he told the Guardian in Damascus shortly after returning from the latest round of ceasefire talks in Cairo.
"Israel and Egypt and Hamas have known for two years that the Shalit file is completely separate from other issues," Abu Marzouk said, "we are ready to start negotiating about Shalit, but the issue is not linked to any other as far as we are concerned. This is not acceptable to us."
Abu Marzouk told the Guardian that contacts between Hamas and European and US representatives had multiplied since the war, despite Hamas being formally designated as a terror group by the US and EU over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace agreements.
"There's been a big change since the war. But a lot of the people we've met have asked us to keep the talks confidential," he was quoted as saying.
"Now there is global support for Hamas and not just in the Arab and Muslim worlds. This is a moral judgment against Israel. Israel has had moral support and legitimacy since the second world war and its propaganda has described Hamas as a terrorist group. There's been a real change on those two points - but this mass support has not managed to break the blockade of Gaza."
