Muzaini: Shalit won't be released unless Israel meets captors' demands

December 7, 2006

Gaza - Hamas' prominent political leader Dr. Osama Al-Muzaini has affirmed that captured IOF serviceman Gilad Shalit will not be released unless Israeli occupation government heeded demands set forth by his captors to free Palestinian women and children inmates in Israeli jails.

Shalit was captured in an armed operation carried out by three Palestinian armed wings namely the Qassam Brigades of Hamas, the PRC's armed wing, and Army of Islam last June near the Kerem Shalom crossing point.

In this regard, Muzaini asserted that captors of Shalit will not soften their stands on the "just" demands they have made, noting that Hamas Movement has displayed a lot of flexibility to conclude the swap deal.

The captors of Shalit, according to Muzaini, want 1,400 Palestinian prisoners freed in return for the corporal's freedom. He explained that Hamas agreed to releasing 500 Palestinian inmates serving long-imprisonment terms in the first batch in addition to 400 women and children inmates before the release of 500 prisoners a month later.

Moreover, Muzaini asserted that those demands were the least the Palestinian people could ask for the sake of the heroic Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails; but he revealed that Israel's reply to chief of Egypt's intelligence Omar Suleiman on those demands proves that Israel was derailing the swap deal. He affirmed, however, that negotiations will not stop.

"Shalit is in our hands, and he will remain in our hands until our demands are met" Muzaini stressed.

Muzaini's affirmations were seconded by Abu Mujahid, the spokesman of the PRC, adding that captors of Shalit will not reduce level of their demands at all cost.

"Any swap deal that excludes women, children, and sick inmates in addition to those serving long-jail-terms will not be accepted", he confirmed in a statement to the PIC.

He emphasized that the "captors of Shalit can retain this file for years and not only months, as they are very patient until Israel shows responsibility and heeds those Palestinian humanitarian demands if it indeed wants its soldier back unharmed".