Hamas denies prisoner swap talks
In an interview from Doha, Moussa Doudine, a member of Hamas’ political bureau and head of the Palestinian prisoners’ dossier, denied Israeli reports about negotiations being ongoing between Hamas and Israel on a prisoner exchange.
Moussa Doudine, a member of Hamas’ political bureau and head of the prisoners, martyrs and wounded dossier, has told Al-Monitor that Hamas will demand guarantees from Israel via a third party to force it to respect the terms of any future prisoner exchange and deny it the opportunity to renege any agreed upon obligations. Doudine emphasized that the movement will not provide information “for free” to Israel, but did not elaborate on what the price might be.
Doudine, 42, spent 18 years in Israeli prisons, from 1993 to 2011, on charges of carrying out a number of armed operations in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, including killing and wounding a number of Israeli soldiers as well as organizing armed cells. Israel sentenced him to life in prison, where he spent seven non-consecutive years in solitary confinement. He was released in the 2011 prisoner exchange, after which Israel exiled him to Qatar, claiming he might become involved in armed operations against Israel if allowed to remain in his hometown of Hebron.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor from Doha, Doudine, who is close to Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, rejected Israeli accusations that released Palestinian prisoners have engaged in armed operations in the West Bank. He also nonetheless claimed that it is the right of every Palestinian to resist the Israeli occupation. He charged that Israel's current military doctrine reflects a decline in the value once placed on its soldiers and that a related opportunistic attitude toward its soldiers will lower morale and help Hamas in the next armed confrontation.
Doudine neither confirmed nor denied reports that Hamas had formed a team to negotiate a prisoner swap with Israel. He said that the leak of this information was part of a war of nerves initiated by Israel against Hamas. Doudine said the movement is aware of this tactic and is not inclined to respond to such Israeli explorations, because Hamas has greatly benefited from previous negotiations and understands the Israeli security mentality.
