Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, said on Tuesday that the release of jailed Fatah lawmaker Marwan al-Barghouti was separated from the freedom of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit.
"The release of the (Palestinian) prisoners in exchange with Shalit is a track and the release of all prisoners, including Barghouti, is another track. But Israel mixes the tracks and the papers," Hamas' spokesman Fawzi Barhoom told reporters.
Barhoom made the remarks after Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that his country should exchange Barghouti for Shalit who was seized in a deadly cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on June 25, 2006.
"Marwan Barghouti has a good chance of becoming the next Palestinian leader," Ben-Eliezer told Israeli army radio, expecting that his release could put forward the political negotiations and help get back Shalit.
Though welcoming and calling for Barghouti's freedom, Hamas reiterated that the Islamic movement would not free the Israeli soldier unless the Jewish state accepts Hamas' list of prisoners.
"The issue of the Corporal Gilad Shalit is subject to the release of the Palestinian prisoners whose names appeared in the list that Hamas and the factions presented to the Egyptian mediators," Barhoom said.
Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Army of Islam kidnapped Shalit in June 2006 in a cross-border raid and took him to Gaza. Egyptian mediators suspended efforts after Hamas sized control of Gaza Strip in mid June.
Source: Xinhua
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