Abu Marzouk denies receiving Shalit videotape

Hamas' deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouk denies receiving a videotape showing the captured soldier Gilad Shalit during his recent visit to the Gaza Strip.
In an interview to the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat, Abu Marzouk said he had arrived in the Strip in order to meet his family members and did not meet with any leaders from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing. 
Abu Mazouk also denied receiving a letter written by Shalit. "I have no information about him and I don’t know if he's alive or dead. The factions holding him know his fate, and they won't provide any information about him without a price. 
"The prisoner exchange issue is in Cairo's hands and there is nothing new on this matter, even if Israel is sending other mediators to us," he said. 
According to the Hamas leader, Israel is using other channels as well in a bid to secure Shalit's release. 
"Israel is sending English mediators and then German, French, Russian and Arab mediators… But we stress that this issue is in Cairo's hands and that we won't release Shalit unless all the 450 prisoners were demand are freed, in addition to 550 others, including minors, women, ministers and parliament members."

Hamas rejects appointment of Fayyad as premier

The Hamas Movement on Tuesday declared its emphatic rejection of Salam Fayyad as premier of the expected national unity government in the event the inter-Palestinian dialog ended in agreement over formation of such a government.
Ismail Al-Ashqar, one of the Hamas leaders and its representative in the security apparatuses committee in the national dialog, told the PIC in an exclusive statement that the nomination of Fayyad was "premature"
Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, had nominated Fayyad to premiership of the national unity government.
Ashqar said that choosing the premier of such a government should be based on national consensus, and charged that Abbas's statement was putting hurdles in face of the dialog.
Hamas rejects Fayyad altogether because he champions an American agenda and due to his practices while chairing the "illegitimate government" in addition to the fact that his government had turned into a one primarily concerned with imposing security according to the Zio-American agenda.
The Hamas leader refused American influence in the Palestinian decision-making, and called for the formation of a Palestinian government that defends all Palestinians and the Palestinian agenda rather than the Zio-American agenda.
He said that his Movement's delegation to the Cairo conciliation talks was heading to the dialog with a strategic decision to end the inter-Palestinian rift taking into consideration the Palestinian people's higher interests. "Let's wait and see what the other parties are carrying," he concluded.

Haneyya: Sudan stronger than a plot against it

Ismail Haneyya, the premier of the PA government in Gaza, has asserted that the Palestinian people in general and the people in Gaza in particular were in full backing of Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir in face of the international criminal court's arrest warrant against him.
In a message to Bashir on Tuesday, Haneyya said that the ICC had revealed its "blind bias" when it passed this decision that falls in line with constant attempts by the oppressive forces to impose their hegemony on the Arab countries.
The premier expressed surprise at the fact that the ICC gave a blind eye to the Israeli occupation forces' crimes, massacres and brutality as was evident before the entire world during the war on Gaza Strip.
Such practice on the part of the ICC displays that it only works on quelling free voices, Haneyya said, adding that he was confident that the Sudan under the leadership of Bashir would overcome this ordeal and would continue to remain united in face of conspiracies.

Hamas: Abbas exclude non-PLO prisoners from aid

The Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday slammed President Mahmoud Abbas for excluding from fiscal aid prisoners affiliated to Palestinian groups out of the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). 
Abbas has decided to install an urgent payment for prisoners held by Israel, excluding the detainees whose factions are not represented under the PLO, an umbrella organization established in 1964 encompassing eight different groups.
"Abbas' decision puts obstacles on the way of the Palestinian dialogue," said Taher al-Nounou, spokesman for Hamas' government in Gaza strip, 
"Excluding the prisoners of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions from the aid boosts the schism and reflects discrimination based on political affiliation," al-Nounou added.
Meanwhile, al-Nounou said the Fatah-affiliated media continued incitement against Hamas despite pledges of supporting the ongoing dialogue. "The media incitement proves that there is a group among Fatah that works to foil the reconciliation efforts

Hamdan: Olmert knows the way for Shalit`s freedom

Senior Hamas political leader and its representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan has affirmed Thursday that Israeli premier Ehud Olmert knows the way for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit's freedom, describing Olmert's call for prisoners swap agreement based on the Israeli vision as part of the Israeli pressures on Hamas.
"Olmert isn't serious in his call for a swap agreement because he knows very well the way to free Shalit and that is to meet Hamas's conditions for the swapping, and those conditions come out of a Palestinian national position and not from Hamas alone", he underlined.
He added that Olmert considers the freeing of Shalit as historic opportunity to beautify his tarnished image after he was defeated twice, the first in Lebanon in 2006, and the second in 2009 in the Gaza Strip; yet, if he wants to score an achievement, then he should simply expedite the swapping of prisoners according to the demands of the Palestinian resistance [which holds Shalit].
Talking on the ongoing inter-Palestinian dialogue in Cairo, Hamdan pointed out that it was still early to expect outright results from the meetings that just started today, stressing that what was indeed needed was to form dialogue committees with clear-cut mechanisms and subjects to tackle within specified time.
But he expressed optimism that the dialogue would go smooth and positive to bury the hatchet and resolve issues of disputes between Hamas and Fatah, the two main factions in the Palestinian arena.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation government dispatched Ofer Dekel to Cairo with new proposal regarding the prisoners swap process with Hamas, which, according to Hebrew sources, he would discuss with Egypt's chief of intelligence Omar Suleiman.
The Hebrew Maariv newspaper revealed that Dekel was carrying a list of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners selected by the Israeli occupation government, including those "with Israeli blood on their hand".
According to the paper, the list will be presented for Hamas to pick 450 names of them who will be swapped with Shalit.
Hamas had reiterated more than once that the Israelis should free the prisoners placed on the list that the Movement had prepared and submitted to them.
In an interview with channel 2 of the Israeli TV, Olmert alleged that he was worried that his successor in government might not be able to reach an agreement in this regard and bring Shalit "home".
"Although I believe that the prime minister who will come after me would do everything to free Shalit, I am still worried that he would face some difficulties in this path due to the anticipated set-up of his cabinet" Olmert elaborated.

Hamas : We have no craving for truce

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a senior Hamas leader, stated Saturday that the Palestinians do not have a craving for the truce with Israel, adding that the Cairo talks were positive and a comprehensive agreement was reached, but everything stalled after Israel demanded the release of its captive soldier in exchange for the calm.In an interview with the Lebanese Akhbar newspaper, Dr. Zahhar noted that Egypt was upset at the Israeli decision and realized its seriousness.Replying to a question about a new Israeli list of prisoners' names, the Hamas leader said that there is no new list because all the names mentioned by Israel are part of the swap deal, so there are no positive signs regarding the deal, adding that Israel constantly maneuver to avoid the release of big names.Regarding the reconstruction issue, Zahhar explained that this effort must be coupled with the calm because it is impossible to reconstruct Gaza under aggression and siege.He pointed out that Egypt was supposed to provide Gaza with mobile homes to shelter homeless citizens if the truce was reached and this step would be followed by allowing in construction materials, but Israel thwarted these Egyptian efforts.As for the national reconciliation efforts, He said that the Hamas delegation met with Fatah officials Ahmed Qurei and Nabil Shaath and agreed with them on a mechanism to close the file of political arrest, but the Fatah officials asked for time to consult the central council and the revolutionary council affiliated with Fatah and no response was received from them so far.Zahhar underlined that the Hamas delegation agreed with Qurei and Shaath on forming a committee composed of Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad in addition to human rights organizations to determine whether there were political prisoners in PA jails in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip.He said that Hamas asked Egypt to continue its reconciliation efforts as well as its contacts with the PA leadership in Ramallah in order to create an appropriate atmosphere for dialog.

Mishaal confers with Mousa on Palestinian developments

Khaled Mishaal, the political bureau chairman of Hamas, on Tuesday conferred with Amr Mousa, the Arab League secretary general, on latest Palestinian developments, a Hamas source said.
He noted that the discussions tackled the situation in Gaza following the Israeli aggression along with a possible calm agreement that includes opening crossings and ending siege along with the prisoners' swap deal.
They also debated the Arab and Palestinian conciliation efforts, the source underlined.
He said that Mousa, who arrived in Damascus on a visit to Syria, had asked for the meeting that was also attended by Mohammed Nazzal, Ezzet Al-Resheq and Sami Khater, political bureau members of the Hamas Movement.

Hamas: No Link between Zionist Soldier's Case and Ceasefire

Hamas Movement has once again announced that there is no link between the release of Zionist regime's soldier, who has been captured by Palestinian combatants, and the conclusion of the ceasefire agreement. The Spokesman for the democratically elected Palestinian government, Taher Al-Nono, reacted to Zionist regime's premier Ehud Olmert's refusal to sign the ceasefire agreement without the release of the captured Zionist soldier. The Palestinian official underlined that there is no link between these two topics.He underscored that the Zionist regime only tries to provide the security of the residents of southern occupied territories and to release the captured Zionist soldier and is indifferent toward the demands of Palestinian nation.He mentioned Hamas Movement's demands, namely the complete stoppage of ground, aerial and sea assaults against Gaza and re-opening of border crossings for entry of needed goods to Gaza Strip.

Mishaal: The national reconciliation entails ending political arrest in W. Bank

Khalid Mishaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau, stated Friday that there can be no national reconciliation while the PA security apparatuses carry out political arrests against Hamas cadres in the occupied West Bank, denying at the same time the existence of political detainees in the Gaza Strip.In a press statement before leaving Libya, Mishaal called for holding bilateral meetings between the PA and Hamas to discuss the issue of detainees. The Hamas leader denied in another context that there was an agreement with Israel on the file of its captive soldier Gilad Shalit, charging the IOA with attempting to link the prisoner swap deal to unrelated files. He also said at the end of his visit to Libya that he is currently on a tour of a number of Arab and Islamic countries in order to develop a common formula for the reconstruction in Gaza and the national reconciliation.Earlier, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau Dr. Moussa Abu Marzouk had underlined that the 18-month truce would ensure the opening of all crossings between Gaza and Israel and pointed to a positive Egyptian tendency to open the Rafah border crossing.Dr. Abu Marzouk added that the prisoner swap deal would be set apart from the truce.In the context of the truce, Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, a senior Hamas leader, announced Friday that a ceasefire agreement was reached with Israel and would take effect as of Sunday, but he said that there was a technical problem that emerged in the last hours when Israel demanded a permanent calm agreement.Dr. Bardawil explained that the agreement provides for a mutual 18-month truce, during which Israel is bound to lift the siege, open the crossings and allow in 80 percent of goods and building materials.The Hamas leader underscored that Hamas and Egypt rejected the Israeli demand of having a permanent calm, noting that this obstacle would be eliminated in the coming hours.Bardawil also pointed out that it was agreed that Egypt would guarantee the Israeli implementation of this agreement. He added that there would be a specific mechanism to oversee the Israeli commitment to the truce whereby a tripartite committee of Egypt, the UNRWA and Hamas would be formed to supervise Israel's abidance by opening of crossings.As for the Rafah border crossing, the Hamas leader asserted that Hamas had received a promise from Cairo to reach another agreement guaranteeing the opening of this crossing as of next March.In a speech delivered during the conference of "Gaza the victory" held Friday morning in Istanbul, Osama Hamdan, the representative of Hamas in Lebanon, stressed the need to get the Palestinian cause back to its Islamic depth after the "enemies" had worked for decades on withdrawing it gradually from this depth and turning it first into an Arab issue and then a mere internal Palestinian issue.Hamdan highlighted during the conference his Movement's willingness to restore the Palestinian unity without any contradiction with its refusal to recognize the Israeli occupation and its adherence to the resistance.