Resheq: The IOA wanted deportation deal not prisoners’ swap deal

Resheq: The IOA wanted deportation deal not prisoners’ swap deal

 

DAMASCUS, — Izzat Al-Resheq, member of Hamas’s political bureau, said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation authority put the German mediator in an embarrassing situation after it reneged on earlier obligations it made to the Germans regarding the prisoners’ swap deal.

He explained that Hamas Movement informed the German mediator its amenability to initially releasing 270 of the 450 captives it had demanded and who serve now long imprisonment terms in Israeli jails, and accepted to deportation of  80-86 of the West Bank captives on the list to the Gaza Strip as the Germans requested based on Israeli suggestions.

However, Resheq pointed out, the IOA reneged on this and refused to release PFLP secretary-general Ahmad Sa’adat and Fatah prominent leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi and other high-ranking Hamas members as earlier agreed on, thus putting the Germans in an unpleasant situation.

Furthermore, Resheq revealed that the IOA wanted 209 of the West Bank captives on the list be deported to the Gaza Strip instead of 86, which Hamas rejected because the deal would become  a deportation deal not prisoners’ swapp deal.

Abbas in a dilemma:

Moreover, Resheq reacted to the recent mobilizations from the USA, Europe, and regional powers to revive the stalled peace process, adding that the Israeli occupation wanted only a nominal process to display itself as the party that strives for peace while in fact it had never believed in making peace with the Palestinians.

“The IOA is put conditions to restart the process; including recognizing the Zionist entity as Jewish homeland and that there was no room to discuss the status of Jerusalem”, Resheq said, adding that such Israeli conditions put Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, in true dilemma after he publicly vowed not to resume the negotiations with the Israelis unless settlement activities are completely stopped, a condition that the Israeli occupation categorically reject.

“He (Abbas) thought that [US president Barack] Obama would remain firm on his stand to have the Israeli settlement activities halted before restarting the peace negotiations, but when Obama regressed on that stand, Abbas faced a serious dilemma”, Resheq highlighted.

Hamas’s tour:

The Hamas official also confirmed that the tour of Hamas’s delegation, led by Khalid Mishaal, the bureau’s head, of a number of Arab countries was meant to shed light on the real stand of Hamas Movement as far as the Egyptian reconciliation paper was concerned, and to muster as much Arab momentum as possible to push the wheel of the Palestinian national reconciliation forward, and to break the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip.

He added that most of the Arab leaders understood the stand of Hamas, especially in the matter of national reconciliation, stressing that Hamas was and still is keen to achieve the national reconciliation but Egypt must take Hamas’s reservations on the paper into considerations before signing it.