By Xinhua,
Gaza : Hamas said on Sunday that European parties were also mediating in the efforts to exchange an Israeli hostage for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said the European sides were not the solo mediators, adding that “we deal with all efforts and mediations because they serve the Egyptian efforts to achieve the swap.”
Radwan did not reveal which countries the European mediators are.
He confirmed that talks about Israeli hostage Corporal Gilad Shalit, have been suspended by Hamas because “the Zionist side is not fully committed” to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Egypt invited Hamas into indirect talks with Israel in Cairo to continue the negotiations about Shalit, who has been held hostage sine June 2006, but Hamas rejected the invitation, according to Radwan.
The ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas took effect on June 19, which has restored some calmness into the Hamas-controlled Gaza. But rocket attacks by Palestinian factions opposing the ceasefire delayed the gradual lifting of the Israeli embargo on the impoverished territory.
Hamas accuses Israel of playing with the ceasefire obligations.
Moreover, Radwan said Egypt did not mediate in efforts to resume inter-Palestinian dialogue.
“From the beginning, Egypt did not start mediation to sponsor the dialogue,” he said, admitting that opposition from America and Europe to the reconciliation was “the real problem.”
Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic newspaper, reported on Sunday that Egypt stopped its efforts to broker reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah.
American and Western opposition was the reason that Egypt cut off its endeavors, the newspaper said.