GAZA: Hamas dismisses President Abbas comment that release of soldier is imminent

The armed wing of the Hamas militant group on Thursday (July 27) dismissed comment from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during a visit to Rome, that a solution could be imminent to the case of a captured Israeli soldier. The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades was among three factions that captured Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25 in a cross-border raid from Gaza. Israel rejected demands for a prisoner swap and launched an offensive that has killed 148 Palestinians. "Nothing has changed in the case of the Israeli soldier," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, one of the three factions that captured Shalit. Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri told Reuters Television: "We assure that those who determine the fate of the (Israeli) soldier are the military wings who hold him as a hostage. Therefore, any comments that are unconfirmed by the armed groups are as if they never existed. The humanitarian conditions of the demands for the release of the prisoners made by the factions are the minimum, the Zionist enemy should accept them, and that can be accepted by the Palestinian people, " Abbas had spoken to reporters in Rome after talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The Palestinian president said he believed a solution was imminent in the case of Shalit, who was abducted last month in the Gaza Strip. "I told the prime minister that as far as the question of the abducted Israeli soldier is concerned efforts are undergoing continuously that lead us to believe that the solution will be imminent," Abbas said. Israel's offensive into Gaza to recover the captured soldier and end cross-border rocket attacks has largely been overshadowed by fighting against Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, but shows no sign of slackening. Abbas also said he hoped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a border raid on June 25, was is in good health at the moment and stressed that while the focus is currently on the conflict in Lebanon, Palestine should not be forgotten "We have been asking for some time for the presence of an multinational force, a force of separation between the the Palestinian territories and Israeli territories. I take advantage of this opportunity to launch an appeal to the world -- we need multinational forces which can be a determining factor for peace," Abbas said. At least 148 Palestinians have been killed in the assault, less than a year after Israel withdrew from the territory following a 38-year occupation.

ITN Source | July 28, 2006

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