Hamas rejects German mediator’s offer on Shalit

Hamas rejected an offer to free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit made by the German mediator, a deal which the Israeli government had accepted.

Hamas political bureau deputy chief Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzouk called the offer “unjust” and said the German mediator “endorsed the unfair and unjust positions of the Zionist government,” in an interview with the Al Hayat newspaper, according to reports.

Hamas will no longer negotiate with the German mediator, he added.

“There is no chance that the German mediator will return, because he is not carrying out his duties and is failing in his mission. We all expected that he would present a fair and not extreme position. But instead of trying to reduce the demands of the Israeli government, he accepted its terms,” Marzouk said.

A German government spokesman confirmed on Monday that Israel had accepted the mediator’s proposal, the Associated Press reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel had accepted a German-mediated deal for the release of Shalit and was awaiting Hamas’ response.

Netanyahu did not specify the terms of the proposal. June 25 marked the fifth anniversary of Shalit’s capture in a cross-border raid near Gaza.

“This proposal was harsh; it was not simple for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said Sunday in a statement released after the weekly Cabinet meeting. “However, we agreed to accept it in the belief that it was balanced between our desire to secure Gilad’s release and to prevent possible harm to the lives and security of the Israeli people. As of now, we have yet to receive Hamas’s official answer to the German mediator’s proposal.

The statement said that “The State of Israel is ready to go far, more than any other country, in order to secure Gilad’s release.”