A HAMAS leader Mahmoud Az-Zahar said several days ago that the main reason to stop the negotiations on release of Gilad Shalit was Israelїs refusal to meet the demands of the movement, Jerusalem Post reported.
їHAMAS will not trade with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the list of Palestinian captives,ї Mahmoud Az-Zahar said in the mosque in the north of Gaza. According to him, there is no sense to continue the contacts, for Israel flatly refuses to release the terrorists whose hands are bloody and Egypt refuses to keep Rafah constantly open.
On 12 September, another HAMAS representative Ismail Redvan said that his organization would not allow changes in the list of Palestinian captives whom Israel intends to release.
Israel and Egypt try to reanimate the negotiations on exchange of Shalit for Palestinian terrorists, London-based Al-Hayat reported on 12 September. Special representative of Israeli Prime Minister Ofer Dekel will meet in Cairo with Egyptїs Intelligence Minister General Omar Suleymanov. They will try to find ways to break the negotiations deadlock.
Egyptїs source of the newspaper denied recent reports that Jerusalem allegedly hinted: in response to HAMASїs refusal to continue the negotiations on Shalitїs release, Israel leaves the reconciliation agreement on Gaza.