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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria: Hamas Žnot seeking exit strategyŽ |
| 2009-05-06 |
| [ADN Kronos] There was "absolutely no foundation" to rumours that the Islamist Hamas movement had asked its exiled political leader Khaled Meshal to end the group's activities in Syria, a source has told Adnkronos International (AKI). In an interview, the source said the news had "no link to reality" and was an attempt to generate confusion about political goals. According to the source, "all Palestinian forces without exception continue to play a political and informative role among the Palestinians who live in Syria, starting with Fatah to all the other factions". Ali Badwan spokesman for the Palestinian National Council said "the causes and rights of the Palestinians are not something to be traded by Syria". Badwan also said that Damascus was not looking to renew relations with the United States at the expense of Hamas and other Palestinian resistance movements. "The fact that Palestinian forces have a real range of action in Syria is a positive factor in the sense of reinforcing the Syrian role," he told AKI. As for suggestions from the Syrian ambassador to Washington that a peace accord would be reached between Syria and Israel and that Palestinian groups could no longer remain, Badwan said this had to be seen "in context". "For 20 years the Syrian position has remained the same," he said. "There are more than 700,000 Palesinian refugees in Syrian territory." Badwan said whatever position that Syria adopts, a just solution was needed to resolve the Palestinian problem, based on the right to return to their homeland, something that Israel has categorically rejected. Mashal heads the Syrian branch of the political bureau of Hamas. He is reportedly playing a key role in negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel that would include the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in 2006. Israel has agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, but there is ongoing disagreement over a number of more serious prisoners. |
| Posted by:Fred |