Hamas rejects Israel's Gaza cease-fire conditions

The Damascus-based political leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas said Wednesday that Israel's conditions for a long-term truce with Hamas were unacceptable.

Khaled Meshal said Wednesday that Hamas will not accept Israel's condition that it would only reopen Gaza's border crossings after Hamas releases captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006.

"We were recently informed of [Israel's] conditions for calm... We reject these Israeli conditions. We will not accept them," Meshal said.

Meshal spoke from Doha, Qatar, where he is on a visit to express his gratitude for Qatar's solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during Israel's 22-day offensive to rout out Hamas rockets. His remarks were aired on Al-Jazeera satellite television.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier Wednesday that crossings with Gaza will only open permanently after the issue of Shalit is resolved.

Meshal reiterated that Hamas insists that thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails be released in return for Shalit. Hamas has resisted any linkage between Shalit and the reopening of crossings.

"In response to the child killer, Olmert," Meshaal said, "I say to you in the name of Hamas and in the name of the heroes who are holding Shalit, we will not accept that crossings be opened in return for Shalit."

Meshal added that Hamas wants Palestinian prisoners in return for Shalit's freedom. Israel has in the past rejected the demand, but media reports have said it is softening its position following the recent military offensive in Gaza.

Shalit was captured in June 2006 during a cross-border raid by Hamas-allied militants on an outpost guarded by his tank unit.

Meshal lives in exile in Syria, where he heads Hamas' political bureau and is believed to be its highest leader. He fears an assassination by Israel, which tried to kill him in 1997, when agents sprayed him with poison on a street in Amman, but he survived.

He rarely travels and his movements are mostly kept secret.

Hamas is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. There have recently been hints of a rift between the Syria-based Hamas leadership and those in the Gaza Strip.