As long as Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has an incentive to capture more Zionist soldiers, the movement leader in West Bank, Shiekh Hasan Yousef says.

As long as Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has an incentive to capture more Zionist soldiers, the movement leader in West Bank, Shiekh Hasan Yousef says.

"I don't know whether more soldiers will be abducted. But so long as Palestinian prisoners continue to suffer in prisons, there will be an incentive to free them via any available means. I urge the government of Israel to release the prisoners in order to put an end to this whole issue. This is an issue that creates considerable tension”, Sheikh Yousef told Israeli Daily Haaretz.

"Not in the sense of cooperation. Hamas is not presenting itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority. What is happening ... does not portend anything about a movement toward negotiations with Israel."

The leader of the Movement in the W.B. said indirect understandings were forged by the Egyptian mediators and others about a temporary cease-fire. He stressed that that the negotiation path with Israel hasn’t been efficient.
“They have not come any closer to receiving their state or to realizing their rights. The Palestinian people as a whole do not believe the government of Israel.”

“For this reason conducting negotiations with Israel is not on Hamas' agenda right now”, Sheikh Yousef said, adding that in the future, the movement may go to this choice if Israel recognizes the rights of the Palestinian.

“If we see this [recognition] taking shape in reality, then the time will come to speak about other subjects. Right now, the Palestinian public feels that what was attained in the resistance [i.e. by Hamas] is much more significant that what has been gained via negotiations".

Answering a question about whether the deal was a victory to Hamas, Sheikh Yousef said: "This is an achievement for the entire Palestinian people and for the prisoners. Yet Hamas will no doubt receive credit on the street for its success in freeing more than 1,000 prisoners”.