UPDATED ON:
Sunday, February 15, 2009
14:40 Mecca time, 11:40 GMT
News Middle East
Gaza truce talks stall over Shalit
Israeli missiles have targeted the Gaza Strip several times since it called a
ceasefire on January 18 [AFP] Israel's
prime minister is meeting other political leaders to discuss a proposed
long-term ceasefire with Hamas, despite saying there would be no
agreement until a captured soldier is freed.
"Mr Olmert will today hold consultation with the main political
leaders over a truce," Mark Regev, a government spokesman, said on
Sunday. A statement issued
by Olmert's office on Saturday said: "Israel will not reach any
understandings regarding the calm [truce] before the release of Gilad
Shalit."
Shalit was seized by Palestinian fighters in a cross-border raid in 2006.
However,
the meeting comes after Olmert said that no long-term ceasefire will be
agreed with Hamas unless an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 is released
Hamas,
which seized full control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after pushing
out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president,
said that Israel had raised the Shalit issue in order to make efforts
at a truce fail.
"We consider that this kind of Israeli
procrastination is for the aim of achieving more objectives and wasting
more time and effort," Osama Hamdan, a Beirut-based Hamas official,
said.
"But our position is still as it was, and what was agreed has to be
implemented fully. Otherwise Israel will bear the consequences of any
failure."
Lasting truce
Egypt has been
attempting to broker a lasting truce between the two sides since Israel
ended its 22-day assault on the Gaza Strip, which left more than 1,300
Palestinians dead.
Israel unilaterally decided to halt the offensive on January 18, before Hamas
announced its own ceasefire the following day.
There
had been media reports in recent days suggesting that the two sides
were close to a deal after Egyptian officials said that a truce
could be agreed "in days".
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's
correspondent in Jerusalem, said that Israeli public opinion
overwhelmingly backed the idea of Shalit's release being tied to any
ceasefire deal.
"I think the Israelis at the moment are hoping that the grim reality of
post-war Gaza is beginning to dawn on Hamas," she said.
"The Israelis are figuring that Hamas, apart from Gilad Shalit, doesn't hold
many cards."
However, with a new Israeli government to be sworn within perhaps
weeks, Olmert would be keen to complete a deal before he leaves office,
Rowland said. Hamas could also be keen to secure a truce, fearing any
new Israeli government will the dominated by hardliners.
Crossings demand
Hamas
has previously said that negotiations over Shalit's release should take
place as part of separate talks on a possible exchange for hundreds of
Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid by Palestinian fighters in 2006
[EPA]
Al Jazeera's Lauren Taylor, in Cairo, said: "Hamas are saying ... in
terms of that truce deal - the opening of the borders and the ceasefire
- they are ready to sign.
"They are saying that Israel bringing up the issue of Gilad Shalit
at this stage is effectively Israel throwing a spanner in the works,"
Taylor said.
The Palestinians want the crossings into the Gaza Strip reopened as
part of a truce deal to bring to an end the crippling blockade of the
territory that has restricted the delivery of basic supplies, food and
fuel.
Israel launched its 22-day offensive on Gaza with the
stated aim of stopping rocket attacks on southern Israel and
destroying the infrastructure of the Hamas government.
But since
the fighting ended dozens of rockets and mortars have been fired by
Palestinian fighters and Israel has carried out a number of air raids.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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