Palestinian Minister of Interior, Sa'id Siyam, said on Thursday that
Israel does not want any prisoner swap deal, and that it is to be
blamed for the failure of a swap deal regarding the release of the
captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Siyam added that the release of Shalit was frozen since Israel “wants its soldier without releasing any Palestinian detainee”. The statements of Siyam came during an interview with the London based Al Hayat Arabic newspaper.
“There are no new proposals, the occupation wants Shalit released before reaching any deal”, Siyam said, “Resistance factions insist that the release of the soldier should be parallel with the release of Palestinian detainees, or under real guarantees that Israel will release the detainees”.
“This issue became a matter of public opinion”, he added, “Parents of the detainees will not accept a deal that sees the release of the soldier for free”.
He also said that Syria should not be blamed for the failure of efforts of the release of Shalit and denied the Israeli claims that Hamas is subjected to Syrian pressures.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Basyouni, Former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, said that Egypt is increasing its efforts to broker a deal for the release of Shalit, and bring about regional stability.
The statements of Basyouni came during an interview with the BBC.
Moreover, Israeli Infrastructures Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, is scheduled to meet on Thursday with the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo.
Although the meeting will discuss issues regarding infrastructure, but Ben-Eliezer also planes to bring up the issue of talks regarding the release of Shalit.
