Abbas ask Hamas to hand him kidnapped Israeli soldier

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has called on Hamas to transfer captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to his custody, so he can negotiate with Israel on his release telling the London-based newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awasat that Israel is ready to release Palestinian prisoners in an exchange for this release.

The exiled Damascus-based Hamas political leader, Khaled Mashaal, says the group will kidnap additional soldiers if Israel does not release all Palestinian prisoners. Mashaal told a Hamas radio station that the demands made by the captors of Shalit remain unchanged despite Israel's efforts to render them meaningless.

Mashaal also called for establishing a Palesitnian unity government based on the so-called prisioners document put together by members of factions held in Israeli jails. He stressed that the new government would not accede to the demands of the Middle East Quartet (US,. UN,. EU, Russia) that calls on Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previously reached agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority before Hamas won the elections.