By NNN-KUNA
Gaza : Israeli Minister of Interior Meir Sheetrit has opposed any meeting with ousted Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, a leader of the Hamas movement, to negotiate the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held in the Gaza Strip.
Sheetrit told the Israeli radio Sunday that he refused the call of Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Eliyahu Yishai for a meeting with Haniya in yet another bid to release Shalit, who has been held by Hamas since the summer of 2006.
Sheetrit proposed trading Shalit with secretary-general of Fatah in the West Bank Marwan Al-Barghouthi, who is already serving a life sentence in the Israeli jail.
If Al-Barghouthi wins the next Palestinian elections, said the minister, he could start fighting “terrorism” in a different way than Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
On the Israeli manoeuvres near the Lebanese and Israeli borders, Sheetrit said Israel did not intend to launch a war with Syria or Lebanon.