XPost: uk.politics.misc, soc.culture.palestine, soc.culture.israel   
   XPost: uk.media   
   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   Hamas premier working to free Israeli soldier   
      
      
   GAZA CITY: Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya insisted yesterday his   
   Hamas-led government was working to free an Israeli soldier, but accused   
   Israel of jeopardising their efforts by attacking Gaza.   
   Mediator Egypt said the governing Islamist party had agreed to secure the   
   release of the soldier, who was abducted by Hamas and other Palestinian   
   militants tomorrow, but that Israel had not yet agreed to their conditions.   
   "We are continuing our efforts and communications with the Egyptians, with   
   the president and other parties to end this matter, but the Israeli   
   escalation is putting up obstacles," Haniya said, referring to Palestinian   
   leader Mahmud Abbas.   
   "We are working to end this crisis but the aggression must stop and the   
   siege has to be lifted," he said in his first public statement since Israel   
   sent troops into southern Gaza on Wednesday to try to bring the soldier   
   home.   
   Israel blitzed Gaza in a series of overnight air strikes, setting the   
   Hamas-controlled interior ministry ablaze and killing a Palestinian fighter   
   in the latest offensive aimed at freeing 19-year-old Gilad Shalit.   
   The air campaign came 24 hours after ground troops in the occupied West Bank   
   arrested a third of Haniya's cabinet in a mass arrest operation that netted   
   64 Hamas politicians, which the movement branded a declaration of open war.   
   Israel halted a planned incursion into northern Gaza on Thursday, however,   
   owing to an Egyptian request to give negotiations more time.   
   Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in comments published yesterday that   
   Hamas has agreed to secure Shalit's release, albeit on certain conditions.   
   "The movement has accepted, conditionally, to have the Israeli soldier   
   returned as soon as possible to avoid an escalation," Mubarak told   
   government newspaper Al-Ahram.   
   "Up to now, the Israeli side does not accept," he added, giving no details   
   of the Palestinian conditions.   
   On Monday three armed groups in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas's armed   
   wing, called for the release of all Palestinian women and children from   
   Israeli jails in exchange for information on the soldier.   
   Haniya vowed yesterday that his Hamas-led government would not fall,   
   accusing Israel of wanting to destroy his administration after the office of   
   interior minister Siad Siam was bombed overnight by the air force.   
   "Our people are patient. They can arrest leaders, assassinate leaders, but   
   our flag will not fall," Haniya said. He accused Israel of planning an "open   
   war" after "failing to blackmail" his government into making concessions   
   connected to the soldier's release.   
   "This total aggression seeks to cow the Palestinian people and this unholy   
   alliance wants the death of the government," he said. Haniya also stressed   
   that there would be no referendum on a statehood initiative, which had been   
   threatened by Abbas unless factions could reach an agreement on the   
   blueprint to end acute crisis.   
   "Abu Mazen (Abbas) said if there was an agreement, there would be no   
   referendum. There was an agreement," Haniya said.   
   All Palestinian factions except the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad reached an   
   agreement on the document Tuesday, following weeks of crisis talks.   
   The deal has been hailed as a chance to end an acute financial and political   
   crisis, together with deadly feuding, that has raged since Hamas won   
   elections and took office in March.   
   The blueprint calls for an end to attacks in Israel, a national unity   
   government and a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east   
   Jerusalem, seen by some as an implicit recognition of Israel's right to   
   exist.   
   Meanwhile, Palestinian militants from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said   
   yesterday that they had kidnapped an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, but   
   presented no evidence to support the claim.   
   The army said it was checking the report. The group, part of President   
   Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, made the claim in the Gaza Strip, where   
   militants have been holding an Israeli soldier since Sunday.   
   It said the soldier was 22 years old and had been abducted in the early   
   hours of Thursday morning.   
   The group has made hoax claims to have kidnapped Israelis in the past.   
   Another faction, the Popular Resistance Committees, killed an 18-year-old   
   Jewish settler in the West Bank this week after saying it had kidnapped   
   him. - Agencies   
      
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