Global General

Palestine, Israel talks on prisoners' swap stalled

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-26 10:12

GAZA - A senior leader of Islamic Hamas movement said Saturday that talks on the release of captive Israeli soldier in Gaza Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are now stalled.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas strongman in the Gaza Strip, told reporters that talks on the release of Shalit will not be resumed unless Israel responds to the demands of the captors.

On Saturday, the Israelis and the Palestinians marked five years for the abduction of Shalit, who was kidnapped in a cross-border attack on an Israeli army base southeast of the Gaza Strip.

"We have 7,000 prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons, some of them had already spent 12 years in jails and some of them suffer from cancers or became deaf and some of them had been in jail for 30 years," al-Zahar said.

He went on saying that "if they respond to our demands, I believe there will be a solution, and if they don't, their children should suffer as our children are suffering in their jails."

"So far, there are no talks and no mediation to finalize the deal," said al-Zahar, who meanwhile accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for not respecting a reconciliation agreement signed with Hamas in Cairo on May 4.