Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas pledged Monday
to press for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli
jails.
"We don't leave our prisoners subject for plundering by the
years in the Israeli jails," Haneya told crowds of prisoners'
families during a demonstration in Gaza.
Palestinians have stepped up their voices to call for releasing
prisoners after a progress was made on talks to swap the captured
Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for about 1,300 Palestinian
prisoners.
Meanwhile, Fatah has criticized Shalit's captors, led by rival
Hamas, for not including a senior Fatah official on a list of
prisoners that the captors wanted to exchange.
But Haneya confirmed Monday Marwan al-Barghouti, a prominent
Fatah leader, was on the list that the captors handed to Israel via
Egyptian mediators.
Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic
Army captured Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25 last year
and has held him in Gaza since then.
Haneya reiterated that "practical steps" to swap Shalit for the
Palestinian prisoners have started.
He affirmed that the government decided to respect the Egyptian
mediators who demanded the Palestinians not make statements on the
swap.
Several factions have called on Monday for capturing more
Israelis to swap them for Palestinian detainees, arguing peaceful
and political means have failed to get them released.
In a press release, Hamas urged all militant groups to take the
initiative by their own hands to release "our prisoners by
capturing Zionist soldiers."
Hamas added that it was willing to free all prisoners after the
failure of the "weak deals, friendly meetings and international
diplomacy."
Another statement issued by the PRC, which participated in
capturing Shalit, urged the Hamas-led unity government to tie any
truce deal with Israel to the condition of freeing the
prisoners.
The military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
movement also called on its members to kidnap Israelis for the
exchange of Palestinian prisoners.
"This is an open call for all our fighters to focus on
kidnapping Israeli soldiers and civilians," al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades said in a statement faxed to the press.
Nonetheless, Fatah officials and Abbas' office declined to
comment on the statement.
"I can't react on something I have not seen," said Saeb Erekat,
chief Palestinian negotiator who is currently accompanying Abbas in
a European tour.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2007)
