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Last update - 22:24 29/03/2008
Meshal: Shalit talks deadlocked due to Israeli intransigence
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Tags: Hamas, Gaza Strip, Israel 

Hamas' Damascus-based political leader Khaled Meshal said Saturday that talks with Israel over the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit are deadlocked due to Israel's failure to meet his organization's demands.

In an interview with the Palestinian news agency Ma'an, Meshal blamed Israel's refusal to release those Palestinian prisoners demanded by Hamas in exchange for Shalit's freedom.

Meshal also addressed the issue of a cease-fire with Israel, saying a truce would depend on an Israeli cessation of all military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "[Hamas] has not offered nor requested calm, but Israel must stop its actions in Gaza and the West Bank, in order for us to do that as well," he said.
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Shalit was abducted in June 2006 during a cross-border raid by a number of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and has been held in the Gaza Strip since.

Shalit's father Noam denied, however, that the negotiations were halted due to Israel's objections. "The negotiations were called off due to internal divisions within Hamas, and [Hamas] is the one which currently is not ready to renew negotiations."

Shalit said the comments were not his own assessment, but rather based on reliable information that he received from the relevant Israeli officials who are handling his son's case.

On Friday, a pro-Hamas Web site quoted Meshal as saying he wants reconciliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' rival group Fatah and is interested in a conditional truce with Israel.

Meshal urged Arab leaders to support the group's fight against Israel and to protest against an Israeli-led blockade of Gaza, defending daily cross-border Qassam attacks as self-defense, according to the Web site.

But he also reiterated Hamas was ready to discuss a "comprehensive" cease-fire with Israel.

"All Palestinian factions of resistance have expressed full readiness to deal with the issue of calm, on condition that it be comprehensive, reciprocal and simultaneous," Meshal was quoted as saying.

The Gaza-based Web site also said Meshal wrote to Arab leaders requesting support for Hamas-Fatah dialogue, after a Yemen-brokered agreement to revive talks between the rival factions appeared to falter this week.

Meshal, along with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, urged Arab leaders to back the Yemen proposal for Palestinian reconciliation.

Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads since the breakdown of a unity Palestinian government last year, culminating in Hamas seizing control of the Gaza Strip after days of bloody internecine violence.

Members of the Arab world are meeting this weekend in Damascus, although many Arab leaders are skipping the event, sending instead lower ranking officials and highlighting the rift between pro-U.S. states and Iran and Syria.

Meshal called on Arab leaders to "shoulder your national and brotherly responsibility to foster a Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue", according to the report, which was also carried by London-based pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat.

In a televised speech to the Arab summit, Haniyeh urged Arab leaders to endorse the Yemeni initiative, despite what he said were American and Israeli objections.

"We hope you don't allow any external interference in the way of reconciliation," he said. "Our people would judge the success or failure of the summit in Damascus on how seriously it deals with the lifting of the siege on Gaza."

Hamas has said any cease-fire would depend on an end to Israeli acts of "aggression" in Gaza and the West Bank and the reopening of Gaza border crossings.

Egypt, with U.S. blessing, has been trying to broker a cessation of hostilities between Israel and militants in Gaza.

Israel, denying it is involved in cease-fire negotiations says it would have no reason to strike Hamas if rocket salvoes ceased.

Meanwhile, Hamas members in the Gaza Strip on Friday called on Arab states to drop their proposal for a comprehensive peace deal with Israel, and support the militant group's policy of violence.

On Thursday, Arab foreign ministers re-endorsed the Saudi plan for peace with Israel originally launched in 2002.

About 2,000 people gathered at a Hamas-organized rally in Gaza, as delegates convened in Damascus ahead of the annual Arab summit. Hamas was not invited to the summit hosted by its closest ally in the region.

Hamas official Khalil al-Haya said Israel would only respond to violence, and encouraged others to join it.

"Cut all ties with Israel, withdraw the Arab initiative," he shouted. "The Zionist enemy doesn't have a vision of peace. Only force ... fighting and holy war works with [Israel.]"

The Saudi-sponsored peace initiative offers Israel peace with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from all the lands it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, the creation of a Palestinian state with a Jerusalem as its capital and a solution to the refugee issue.

Mushir al-Masri, another Hamas official, said the Arab initiative was a burden on Palestinians. "Hamas is defending the honor and dignity of this nation on the [Arabs'] behalf," he said.

The rally was peppered with pleas from children for a lifting of the closure imposed on Gaza after Hamas violently seized the territory. "Your summit will be useless if you don't lift the siege on Gaza," a young boy screamed into a microphone.

Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, along with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, announced that their top leaders would not attend this weekend's summit. The annual summit is frequently plagued by no-shows. But this year, pro-U.S. nations are deeply embittered with hard-line Syria, over its meddling in Lebanese affairs and support of Palestinian Islamic militant groups.

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      1.   Quassams not to stop 17:00  |  Marcelo 28/03/08
      2.   No difference between Fatah & Hamas 18:07  |  Jean Van Daem 28/03/08
      3.   Palestinians seek freedom 21:45  |  ordinary Gazan 28/03/08
      4.   Dear Ordinary Gazan 22:48  |  ordinary Israeli 28/03/08
      5.   Calm 23:33  |  Peace 28/03/08
      6.   israhel is an expansionist theocracy of self worship 23:48  |  get a clue 28/03/08
      7.   Hama`s de facto leaders in the Gaza Strip? 00:08  |  bibliovitz 29/03/08
      8.   bad journalism 00:10  |  Palestinian 29/03/08
      9.   Dear Ordinary Israeli 00:15  |  Ordinary Palestinian 29/03/08
      10.   re:dear ordinary gazans 00:22  |  palestinian 29/03/08
      11.   Ordinary Palestinian 8 01:16  |  ChanahS 29/03/08
      12.   A suggested solution! 01:18  |  US Citizen 29/03/08
      13.   To Ordinary Palestinian - # 9 01:25  |  Daniel 29/03/08
      14.   Dear Ordinary Palestinian 01:42  |  Oridnary Israeli Jew 29/03/08
      15.   #5 01:53  |  GPWS1 29/03/08
      16.   Hamas is a totalitarian terror group 02:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/03/08
      17.   #12 Gosh, US Citizen, wrong in the first line... 02:09  |  Johnboy 29/03/08
      18.   to 4 (ordinary israli) 02:35  |  bibliovitz 29/03/08
      19.   to ordinary israli 4 02:42  |  bibliovitz 29/03/08
      20.   #6 Get a clue - you sure need one 02:52  |  * BEN JABO 29/03/08
      21.   ordinary Gazan 02:56  |  George McDuff 29/03/08
      22.   Self Inflicted Pals never stop whining it seems never ending 03:05  |  Doc Holliday 29/03/08
      23.   Its mine! No its mine! A bunch of babies... 03:17  |  Jewboy 29/03/08
      24.   9 ordinary palestinian 03:55  |  ordinary jew 29/03/08
      25.   Calm within the Rocket Storm? 04:01  |  Zev 29/03/08
      26.   Plus and minus in the same sentence = ZERO 04:28  |  Man deVoshkes 29/03/08
      27.   Another peace move by the peace-loving terrorists 04:43  |  Dan 29/03/08
      28.   Back violence 04:59  |  Adeel 29/03/08
      29.   Hamas pisses into the wind 05:28  |  Mark Lincoln 29/03/08
      30.   #17 Johnboy 07:31  |  US CITIZEN 29/03/08
      31.   Mark Lincoln needs a political education 07:37  |  Matt Dillon 29/03/08
      32.   Armed Struggle until Destruction of Israel 07:42  |  Jean Van Daem 29/03/08
      33.   #29 Mark Lincoln Pisses into who ever listen 07:46  |  Zalman Shneor 29/03/08
      34.   You won`t often see this in print 08:07  |  Rowan Berkeley 29/03/08
      35.   #29 mark strikes gold at last! a vision appears 08:25  |  v hardman 29/03/08
      36.   #18 Bibliovitz 09:16  |  Guber 29/03/08
      37.   Give war a chance 09:25  |  I am not sure 29/03/08
      38.   #30 Well, US Citizen, I would have thought it obvious.... 09:58  |  Johnboy 29/03/08
      39.   Saladin was not an arab, he was a Curd 10:00  |  rehovot 29/03/08
      40.   Mark Lincoln #29 11:03  |  S 29/03/08
      41.   Promising signals from Hamas....... 11:41  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/03/08
      42.   #14 Oridnary Israeli Jew 11:41  |  Uqbari 29/03/08
      43.   If hamas wants a truce then let them prove it 11:48  |  Adrian de Klerk 29/03/08
      44.   There will be no peace 12:48  |  Natallie Durson 29/03/08
      45.   #4 get a clue hasn`t got one 12:50  |  H 29/03/08
      46.   # 38 Johnboy 13:25  |  17 29/03/08
      47.   Hamas truce 14:43  |  I.Kemp 29/03/08
      48.   Dear Ordinary People of the ME 15:36  |  Aphemia 29/03/08
      49.   ordinary Gazan 15:46  |  alan 29/03/08
      50.   It is going to backfire 16:13  |  Harold 29/03/08
      51.   Hamas Fizzles, Sputters, And Goes Out 17:23  |  Jeff Northridge 29/03/08
      52.   44 natalie 17:39  |  q 29/03/08
      53.   Hamas Defending Honor and Dignity 18:41  |  Douglas Fireman 29/03/08
      54.   How Israel should deal with Hamas 19:34  |  Tosefta 29/03/08
      55.   i thought every jewish life was important to you 20:04  |  mashaal 29/03/08
      56.   Freeing hostages 20:39  |  Dutch Dirk 29/03/08
      57.   Hamas means LOVE 21:02  |  Nattalie Durson 29/03/08
      58.   Hamas is ready for negotiations on permanent border 21:03  |  (Swiss) Dino 29/03/08
      59.   Jeff Northridge just keeps sputtering 21:18  |  its you fool 29/03/08
      60.   Shalit talks deadlocked due to unrealistic hamas demands 22:04  |  Ronnie 29/03/08
      61.   # 58 DINO "Hamas is ready for negotiations on permanent border 22:08  |  17 29/03/08
      62.   Meshal - Dead Man Talking 22:12  |  Bill Foonman 29/03/08
      63.   62. Bill on drugs? keep dreaming 22:27  |  mashaal 29/03/08
      64.   # 58 is of course a FAKE......... 23:05  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/03/08
      65.   Hamas and Intransigence 23:21  |  Zev 29/03/08
      66.   israel`s 60 year intransigence.Maybe the only solution is the 23:28  |  lakshmi 29/03/08
      67.   #28 Adeel sleeps well 00:00  |  ZZZZZZZZZ 30/03/08
      68.   Johnboy 00:14  |  No Dope 30/03/08
      69.   62. Bill the mouth in Florida: master of idle threats