THE exiled supreme leader of Hamas emerged from hiding yesterday to give warning that only Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners would secure the freedom of its captive soldier.

Making a rare public appearance, Khaled Mashaal blamed Israel for the stand-off over 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit, seized during a raid on Kerem Shalom military base on June 25.

Earlier, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, had sounded an equally defiant note in Jerusalem, refusing to negotiate and branding Mr Mashaal a “terrorist with blood on his hands”.

The apparently irreconcilable public positions were stated as the crisis moved into its third week. However, there have been more optimistic background noises. Last week one Israeli Cabinet minister floated the prospect of future prisoner releases and the withdrawal of Israeli troops if Hamas freed Corporal Shalit.

Hamas has gained widespread domestic support for the operation among Palestinians frustrated at international sanctions on the Government they elected in January. One poll indicated 77.2 per cent support for the abduction, with 66.8 per cent in favour of releasing the soldier only if Israel freed some of the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

The ability of Hamas to govern has, however, been curtailed by Israel’s roundup of its ministers and MPs, and Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli tanks and airstrikes. Yesterday one airstrike hit an area in eastern Gaza City, killing at least one person and wounding several others. A second explosion in northern Gaza killed two other Palestinians.

Mr Olmert’s Government has incurred widespread international criticism for killing civilians, destroying power stations and bridges and for failing to stop Palestinian militants launching home-made rockets into Israel despite sending tanks back into the coastal strip that it evacuated last year.

Nevertheless, the public positions were stark. Mr Mashaal asserted that, despite foreign mediation efforts, the Israeli Government was refusing a deal. “Israel wants us to let the soldier go and refuses to even look at our prisoners,” he said. “We don’t want to see an escalation; we want a peaceful solution. But the Palestinians have needs.

“I told [foreign mediators] to go to Rafah and Gaza City and they would find not one Palestinian will accept giving up the prisoner for nothing. This is not a Hamas stand but the stand of the Palestinian people. It’s very simple. It’s an exchange of prisoners.”

The rare press conference was held amid tight security at the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, where Mr Mashaal had bitter words for the West. “The situation in Gaza is close to catastrophe because one Israeli agent was captured. One soldier. We have 10,000 prisoners in Israeli jails. Why do you forget your humanity when it comes [to the Palestinians]? Where is your conscience?”

Mr Olmert, speaking to foreign reporters in Jerusalem, was terse in his dismissal of the demands of Hamas, saying that it was not “a legitimate partner for anything” and defending Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

“I think that trading prisoners with a terrorist, bloody Government such as Hamas is a major mistake that will cause a lot of damage to the future of the State of Israel,” he said.

DIVIDED VIEWS

'Israel wants us to let the soldeir go and refuses to even look at our prisoners. We don't want to see an escalation, we want a peaceful solution, but the Palestinians have needs ... This is not a Hamas stand but the stand of the Palestinian people'

KHALED MASHAAL, THE EXILED SUPREME LEADER OF HAMAS

'I think that trading prisoners with a terrrorist, bloddy Government such as Hamas is a major mistakethat will cause a lot of damage to the future of the State of Israel'

EHUD OLMERT, THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL

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