Date: 18 / 06 / 2009 Time: 16:31 | |
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| Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh [Ma'anImages] |
Haniyeh said in a statement that his Hamas-led government “is keen to conclude a honorable swap deal that would guarantee releasing the Palestinian prisoners jailed in the Israeli prisons, most importantly lawmakers.”
This came in a message in which he congratulated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker Aziz Dweik on Wednesday’s Israeli court decision to release him from prison in August. Dweik has been held along with more than 40 other lawmakers since 2006.
“This decision comes to correct a wrong situation since the arrest was an attempt to thwart the Palestinian legitimacy,” Haniyeh said of the ruling.
Israel seized the lawmakers originally in an attempt to pressure Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in 2006 by Palestinian fighters from Gaza. Any potential prisoner swap would likely involve the release of Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners.
Haniyeh also praised the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for supporting the Palestinian cause, especially protecting Jerusalem against what he said were Israeli attempts to separate it from the rest of Palestinian territory.
An OIC delegation entered the Gaza Strip through the Egypt-controlled Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. The group plans to investigate the situation in Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s three-week attack on Gaza last winter which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead.
