Hamas refuses to link the truce with the liberation of Shalit

Hamas has accused Israel Monday of "blackmail" by linking the conclusion of a truce in the Ghaza Strip to the liberation of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and reiterated its rejection of any association of the two files.

•     A Hamas delegation has conveyed this position Monday in Cairo to General Omar Souleimane, the head of Egyptian intelligence services who provides mediation between Hamas and Israel, said the Hamas government spokesman Taher El Nounou .
  
      “The Delegation informed the General Souleimane of its rejection of any association of the file of the truce to the freedom of the soldier Gilad Shalit,” said Mr. El Nounou, who is in Cairo, in a statement.
  
      “We bring to Israel the responsibility in the implementation of the agreement on truce concluded under the auspices of Egyptian brothers and we reject all attempts of blackmail by Israel,” said El Nounou.
  
      Israel conditions the conclusion of a truce in the Ghaza Strip, where it conducted from 27 December to 18 January an offensive which caused more than 1,300 dead, the release of the soldier Shalit held in the territory controlled by Hamas since his abduction in June 2006.
  
      Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had said Sunday evening that the release of Shalit priority over any other consideration in the negotiations on a truce in Ghaza.
  
      According to Mr. El Nounou, the Hamas delegation in Egypt Monday has come to “agreements and a clear agreement on the truce.”
  
      “But the occupier (Israel) raised at the last minute the question of the soldier Gilad Shalit in an attempt to include him in the agreement, which prevented his announcement when all the clauses had already been drafted," the he added.
  
      Hamas says it will release Shalit as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel, demanding in exchange for the release of hundreds of detainees.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.