In his first public appearance since the capture of an Israeli soldier, Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal claimed in Damascus that Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip was futile and the only way out is through a prisoner exchange deal. Mashaal, threatened by Israeli leaders of assassination, said that “Our people... are united on the insistence to swap the captured soldier with prisoners in the jails of the Zionist enemy.”

Revealing that “political efforts” to end the crisis was happening behind the scene, Mashaal says that the world needs “to understand the needs of the Palestinian people.” Hamas says that Israel is holding large numbers of children and women in prison camps and wants them freed in exchange for the captured soldier. Israel refuses to negotiate with terrorists and mounted a major military campaign to reoccupy vacated areas on the Gaza Strip and has even captured 1/3 of the Hamas Cabinet. The invasion of the Gaza has caused great hardship to the Palestinian population  and about 900,000 people of a population of 1.4 million are being addressed by a UN refugee agency. So far, 47 Palestinians have been killed and 187 and wounded but it is not clear if the affected ones are civilians or militants. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of meeting out “collective punishment” for the activities of a few. Incidentally, it was voting in Gaza that propelled the Hamas into power which refuses to recognize Israel’s right to live, accept past agreements made by Palestinian Authority, and give up violence as means to gain peace.

Israel accuses Mashaal of ordering the June 25 attack which he rejects because local military ‘commanders’ can plan attacks “without having to take instructions from their political leadership.” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected international criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza and demands to free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an abducted Israeli soldier. Olmert vowed to pursue with the offensive till the soldier is released and cross-border rocket attacks against Israel continues. He also promised to implement a unilateral plan redrawing the Jewish settlement map in the occupied West Bank since peace talks with the Palestinians has broken down.