Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Tuesday condemned Israel for impeding work on a truce by adding last-minute conditions for the release of an abducted soldier, dpa reported.
The two were decrying Israel's demand that Gilad Shalit, a soldier taken prisoner in June 2006, be released before Israel agrees to a truce with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
"Israel is responsible for delaying the truce and we call on all international sides to condemn Israel and pressure it to accept the Egyptian proposal," Syria-based Meshaal said after meeting Mussa in Damascus.
On Saturday, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert specifically linked the release of Shalit or his remains with the truce talks. Before then, the status of Shalit had only been linked to talks about lifting Israeli controls on border crossings into the Gaza Strip.
Both sides have been seeking a truce since reaching separate ceasefires last month following a bruising 22-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead. That assault was prompted by rocket fire from the salient into Israel. Thirteen Israelis died during the offensive.
The two said the Israeli move was "adding a new condition at the last minute."
Hamas has rejected demands that Shalit's status should be linked to overall truce talks. Instead, it wants to consider the question of Shalit in talks about the release of Hamas prisoners in Israel.
"A truce can come about only in exchange for a lifting of the blockade and the reopening of the crossing points. It is unacceptable to combine the truce issue with the question of Israeli prisoner Gilad Shalit," Meshaal added.
In separate talks, Egypt has been brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.
"Israel's condition is unacceptable," said Mussa. "Every time we reach a new stage, Israel increases its demands and conditions."
Mussa said that such rejection from Israel was expected because "meddling is part of the Israeli policy".
Mussa, who arrived in Damascus on Monday, has also met with Syria's president Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister, Walid al- Muallem.
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