Member of Hamas’s political bureau Mousa Dudin revealed that mediation attempts by several Arab, Islamic and Western countries and parties had been made to broker a new prisoner swap deal, but they were unsuccessful because of Israel’s intransigence.

In press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), Dudin said that the last mediation attempt was made in recent times, adding that Egypt was at the forefront of Arab mediators.

The Hamas official also noted that other countries and parties tried to mediate in this file, most prominently Qatar, Turkey, Sweden and Germany.

“Those attempts failed to make any progress because of the occupation’s intransigence and its reluctance to engage in this file,” he said, affirming that a new swap deal can never take place without the Israeli side honoring the requirements of the previous deal.

He said that the Israeli occupation had rejailed a large number of ex-detainees who were released as part of the 2011 swap deal, stressing the need to release them before talking about another deal.

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center