Zahhar Says Zionists Do Not Want to Pay the Price for Shalit, Keeping Thousands of Palestinian Prisoners in Captivity

Zahhar: Zionists do not want to pay the price for Shalit

[ 29/04/2010 - 09:33 AM ]

NUSSEIRAT, (PIC)--

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a political bureau member of Hamas, said that Israel was not willing to pay the price for its soldier Gilad Shalit's freedom.

He told a seminar in Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday night that his movement had taken part in 120 rounds of talks with German and Egyptian mediators to conclude the exchange deal.

Zahhar attributed failure of the talks to the Israeli government's non-compliance with conditions for the swap deal, adding that Hamas will retain Shalit until all conditions for his release are met.

The Hamas leader, shifting to another issue, said that his movement was keen on maintaining distinctive relations with all Arab countries topped by Jordan and Egypt due to their historical role.

He reiterated Hamas's readiness for national reconciliation that would be true to its content and essence and not a mere agreement like previous ones.

Zahhar said that no Palestinian could surrender Jerusalem, adding that the Israeli occupation would never realize its dream of building the alleged temple in the holy city.

Female captive Qaherah al-Sa'di completes nine year in occupation jails

[ 30/04/2010 - 10:53 AM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)--

Palestinian female captive, Qaherah al-Sa'di from the northern West Bank city of Jenin, who is serving a sentence of 3 life-terms plus 30 years in an Israeli occupation jail, has completed nine years in captivity.

Sa'di, who was arrested on 1 May 2001, told the lawyer of  Tadamon for human rights that despite nine years in jail and her heavy sentence she still enjoys very high spirits and that she is certain of her liberation along with other fellow captives.

Sa'di has four children,  Muhammad and Sandi are not allowed to visit her under security pretexts and Ra'fat and Dunia are allowed to visit. Her three brothers also are barred from visiting her because of  security pretexts too.

She also told the lawyer about the conditions of 37 other female captives at the Damoun and Hasharon prisons who are not allowed to receive books, not allowed to get their hand work (such as embroidery) out of prison. The captives are denied meeting their captive husbands and are not accorded proper medical treatment.

Sa'di is one of five female captives serving life in Israeli occupation jails, the other four are: Ahlam al-Tamimi, serving 16 life terms, Amena Mona, Sana' Shehada and Dua'a al-Jahhousi.

Zahhar: Hamas and its armed wing do not kill prisoners

[ 28/04/2010 - 10:14 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, stated Tuesday that Hamas and its armed wing do not kill prisoners in their custody and stressed that this is an unchanging moral position.

Dr. Zahhar told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that any other accounts in this regard do not concern Hamas which has declared clearly its policy of dealing with prisoners.

The Hamas official explained that his Movement uses the policy of capturing Israeli soldiers to swap them for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, noting that the peace negotiations which late president Yasser Arafat and his successor engaged in did not succeed in freeing prisoners.

He stressed that Hamas can not stay idly watching the Palestinian prisoners suffering in Israeli jails and doing nothing to get them released, adding that it will do its utmost to get the prisoners back to their families.

For his part, senior Hamas official Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil denied there is a contradiction between Al-Zahhar’s remarks and Al-Qassam Brigades’ ethics of dealing with prisoners.

In a press release on Tuesday, Bardawil said the animated video produced by the armed wing of Hamas holds Israel responsible for wasting time, balking at concluding the swap deal and deceiving the Israeli street.

He underlined that that the party that kills and tortures prisoners is Israel, which has killed in its jails 199 Palestinians and thus must be prosecuted in international courts.

Bardawil noted that Al-Qassam Brigades will be always committed to the civilized values of Islam with regard to dealing with prisoners.

In the same context, former Egyptian foreign minister and professor of international law Dr. Abdullah Al-Asha'al said that the video produced by Al-Qassam Brigades was an ironic message meant to ridicule the successive Israeli governments which promised their people to get soldier Gilad Shalit released and are still unable to do so.

As for the timing of screening the video, Asha'al told the PIC on Tuesday that Al-Qassam Brigades wanted to move the stagnant swap deal and to provoke the Zionist community into pressuring its government to pay attention to Shalit’s issue.

For his part, former director of information at the Palestinian national council Hassan Khalil described the video of Shalit as a clever way used to move the prisoner swap file after it reached a deadlock.

Khalil said in a press statement to the PIC that the video was a professional piece of work intended to urge the Zionist public to press their leaders to move the file and put it on the top of their agenda.