Abbas confident Shalit can be freed

"We can't bear another aggression and another occupation."

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, AP
abbas 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
abbas 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said late Saturday he was confident an agreement could be reached to end the crisis with Israel and free IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Palestinian operatives last Sunday. For a Jerusalem Online video of events click here "Regarding the soldier, we will surely reach an agreement. It is not a dead end. People want an acceptable solution," Abbas told reporters. "Israel as a matter of principal does not accept reciprocity. Maybe there will be another formula that won't be turned back," Abbas continued. "I am afraid that what is to come is going to be dangerous because we can't bear another serious aggression and another occupation. What is to come may be more difficult," he said. "What is important is to protect national unity. To protect our people and to avoid bringing danger and disaster to the nation."
  • To view readers' prayers for Gilad, click here Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said that divisions inside Hamas were preventing progress in talks aimed at releasing Shalit. "Hamas doesn't know what it wants," a PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "The movement's leaders are saying different things and we don't know who's in charge there. The rivalry within Hamas makes it difficult to reach an agreement." The official was speaking shortly after Abbas's office issued a statement saying it was not clear who in Hamas was making decisions about the soldier. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who has been negotiating with Abbas for the past week, apparently has no say in the matter, the statement added. "The next hours are critical, sensitive and serious. And though the efforts are still continuing, we have not reached a satisfactory solution until now," a spokesman for Abbas said. The kidnappers are demanding the release of at least 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails in return for information about the condition of Shalit. Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council's Political Committee, said on Friday that the two sides were close to reaching an agreement on a prisoner swap. He said that the under the terms of the agreement, which was being brokered by Egypt, Shalit would be exchanged for several hundred Palestinian prisoners, including all the female inmates. He said the deal would also call for Israel and the PA to return to the negotiating table and for Israel to halt all its military activities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said on Saturday that his movement wanted a prisoner swap similar to the one that was reached in January 2004, when Israel released senior Hizbullah members and 400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for kidnapped Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers. "There will be no solution for this case without the release of Palestinian prisoners," he said. "We want a prisoner exchange like Hizbullah, which swapped the bodies of three Israeli soldiers for hundreds of Arab prisoners held in Israel." Also on Saturday, PA Deputy Minister of Prisoners Affairs Ziad Abu Ein announced that Shalit has received treatment for wounds sustained during his abduction and that he is in stable condition. Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, Abu Ein cited unidentified "mediators" as telling him that Shalit had been wounded during his abduction. "He has three wounds," he said. "I guess shrapnel wounds." Abu Ein, who is a senior Fatah leader, later claimed that he was only quoting media reports and that he did not have independent information regarding Shalit's condition or whereabouts. In his first public appearance since Shalit's abduction a week ago, Haniyeh said on Friday that his government would not cave in to Israeli demands. He added that he was working hard to resolve the crisis peacefully. Referring to the IDF's detention of Hamas ministers, legislators and mayors, Haniyeh told worshipers at a mosque: "When they kidnapped the ministers, they meant to hijack the government's position, but we say no positions will be hijacked, no governments will fall. "This comprehensive aggression shows there is a premeditated plan against the people and the legitimate government and the elected PLC. How can we explain the arrest of the ministers and the PLC members? The threats don't scare us. This is an old/new policy, because we believe that lives are controlled by God," he said.