By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent - 06/07/2006
RAMALLAH - Jibril Rajoub, who served as national security adviser in the Palestinian Authority and is considered one of the leading Fatah figures in the West Bank, told Haaretz Wednesday that Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader in Damascus, would agree to the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit and an end to the Qassam attacks if Israel releases a group of prisoners of women and veteran detainees, pulls out of the Gaza Strip and ends its assassinations and bombings.
Asked if his comments stemmed from direct knowledge or personal assessment of the situation, Rajoub said: "Understand it as you will. I do not intend to expand on this issue."
According to Rajoub, Meshal will accept such a deal "with certainty, guaranteed."
Rajoub is known in the Fatah as having good relations with Meshal since his days as commander of the Preventive Security apparatus under Yasser Arafat.
"I have made many deals with Meshal in the past. It is no secret that I pressed Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] to hold direct talks with Meshal on the prisoners` document, since he is the real authority in Hamas. Without his support for the prisoners` document, we are wasting time. It was a mistake not to do this," Rajoub says.
Rajoub is proud of his good ties with Hamas. "I accepted their electoral victory and now we need to help their government," he says. "Meshal, like any other Palestinian leader, cannot order the release of the soldier, without the release of Palestinian prisoners in return. I do not think that the kidnappers planned to abduct the soldier. The situation became complicated and now the Palestinian public expects them to release prisoners. The continued Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip will not bring them closer to gaining the soldier`s release.
"Actually, now, a deal between the sides that will include the release of female Palestinian prisoners, or prisoners held prior to the Oslo Accords, a pullout from Gaza and an end to assassinations in exchange for an end to the Qassam attacks and the release of the soldier - all these will create the right atmosphere for further mutual agreements," Rajoub argues.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh "and certainly also Khaled Meshal" will accept such a deal, according to Rajoub.
The Fatah official refused to discuss whether this was an offer already put before Hamas, Syria or Israel. But he claimed that "according to the interviews of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the media, it is understood that he considers the release of a group of prisoners, women for example, sufficient for the release of the soldier."
He reiterated his call to Israel for a start of negotiations with Abbas, and to take advantage of a deal on the release of the soldier to further accords.
"If there is a hope that Palestinian prisoners will be released as part of a diplomatic move, Israel must not fear additional kidnappings. But, so long as there are Palestinian prisoners, there will always be someone thinking about a kidnapping to gain their release. In 1985 Israel released 1,150 prisoners in the Jibril deal. Without that deal I would still be in prison. What do you think? The Oslo Accords freed me?
Of the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons before 1993 and the Oslo Accords, 85 are women and 382 men.
Among the Hamas officials arrested by Israel last week is Rajoub`s brother, Nayef Rajoub, minister for holy sites (waqf). Rajoub is furious at this action and warns that "you are asking for a response. Don`t forget what happened to Rehavam Ze`evi [Israeli minister murdered by PFLP militants] and whoever wants to can get to anyone on your side."
