LaoSexMachine
02-24-2007, 08:31 PM
Hamas sends message to captured Israeli soldier's dad
Story Highlights
• NEW: Soldier's father tells AP: 'It sounds like the same spin that's been going on"
• Hamas' Khaled Meshaal: Get your country to follow our demands
• Hamas militants captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 25
• Israel and Hamas have discussed his release as part of a prisoner exchange
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- A Hamas leader on Friday offered a message to the father of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in June: If you want your son to be released, get your country to follow our demands.
On June 25, Hamas militants captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit and killed two other Israeli soldiers, during a raid on an Israeli army post near the Israel-Gaza-Egyptian border.
Shalit was 19 at the time of the attack.
"I tell Gilad Shalit's father, as a father myself, I do understand his feelings," Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told reporters in Cairo. "We are human and can value the human emotions, although his son was carrying weapons to kill the Palestinian people."
Israel had faced repeated rocket fire from Gaza after its military pullout from the region the year before, and had troops working to stop the attacks.
Meshaal, in remarks carried on Arabic TV networks, complained about thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and said, "The ball is in the Israeli leaders' court. They are the ones who are getting in the way of the exchange."
He added, "Send a message to your government's leaders, not to Hamas, to release your son."
The Associated Press quoted the soldier's father, Noam Shalit, as saying he knew nothing about talks to free his son, and that he couldn't respond to Meshaal's comments. "It sounds like the same spin that has been going on all this time," Noam Shalit told AP.
In September, Israeli officials said that a "sign of life" had been received from Shalit, but the officials didn't specify what sort of contact had been made.
Calls for an exchange
Hamas has previously called for an exchange. Israel has discussed possibly releasing some prisoners, partly to help win Shalit's release, but no deal has been reached.
Israel rejects comparisons between Palestinians held in jail for alleged offenses and a soldier captured by a militant group.
While the Hamas party controls Palestinian politics, Hamas militants have at times continued to operate on their own without the apparent support of Hamas political leaders.
The United States and the European Union have frozen aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government because Hamas has refused to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist -- two steps that Fatah, the party that controlled Palestinian politics before elections last year, was willing to take.
Hamas and Fatah recently agreed to build a unity government.
Meshaal, who lives in Syria, said some European countries have decided to resume support to the Palestinian Authority government, but he did not say which countries.
"We will not change our position ... and the international community should not press too hard on the Palestinian people," he said.
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Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/23/israel.hamas/index.html
Story Highlights
• NEW: Soldier's father tells AP: 'It sounds like the same spin that's been going on"
• Hamas' Khaled Meshaal: Get your country to follow our demands
• Hamas militants captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 25
• Israel and Hamas have discussed his release as part of a prisoner exchange
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- A Hamas leader on Friday offered a message to the father of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in June: If you want your son to be released, get your country to follow our demands.
On June 25, Hamas militants captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit and killed two other Israeli soldiers, during a raid on an Israeli army post near the Israel-Gaza-Egyptian border.
Shalit was 19 at the time of the attack.
"I tell Gilad Shalit's father, as a father myself, I do understand his feelings," Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told reporters in Cairo. "We are human and can value the human emotions, although his son was carrying weapons to kill the Palestinian people."
Israel had faced repeated rocket fire from Gaza after its military pullout from the region the year before, and had troops working to stop the attacks.
Meshaal, in remarks carried on Arabic TV networks, complained about thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and said, "The ball is in the Israeli leaders' court. They are the ones who are getting in the way of the exchange."
He added, "Send a message to your government's leaders, not to Hamas, to release your son."
The Associated Press quoted the soldier's father, Noam Shalit, as saying he knew nothing about talks to free his son, and that he couldn't respond to Meshaal's comments. "It sounds like the same spin that has been going on all this time," Noam Shalit told AP.
In September, Israeli officials said that a "sign of life" had been received from Shalit, but the officials didn't specify what sort of contact had been made.
Calls for an exchange
Hamas has previously called for an exchange. Israel has discussed possibly releasing some prisoners, partly to help win Shalit's release, but no deal has been reached.
Israel rejects comparisons between Palestinians held in jail for alleged offenses and a soldier captured by a militant group.
While the Hamas party controls Palestinian politics, Hamas militants have at times continued to operate on their own without the apparent support of Hamas political leaders.
The United States and the European Union have frozen aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government because Hamas has refused to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist -- two steps that Fatah, the party that controlled Palestinian politics before elections last year, was willing to take.
Hamas and Fatah recently agreed to build a unity government.
Meshaal, who lives in Syria, said some European countries have decided to resume support to the Palestinian Authority government, but he did not say which countries.
"We will not change our position ... and the international community should not press too hard on the Palestinian people," he said.
http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/23/israel.hamas/index.html