RAMALLAH - A Fatah official on Tuesday announced he would visit the Gaza Strip despite a recent condition the territory's Islamic rulers have put on any Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah member. "Gaza is part of the home, so I don't need to ask for a visa, a permission or a special license from anyone," said Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah's Central Committee. Shaath said that Abbas had assigned him to visit Gaza and he would do this "soon". Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader said yesterday indirect talks with Israel on a prisoner exchange had collapsed and blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hardening Israeli terms. "The main cause ... is that after the interference of the political element, after the interference of Netanyahu personally, there was a big regression and retraction," Mahmoud al-Zahar told BBC World News' Hardtalk programme. "For this reason, everything now is stopped," Zahar said in Gaza. An official in Netanyahu's office said last month the Prime Minister had signalled a tougher stance in negotiations mediated by Germany on a deal under which captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be traded for about 1,000 of the more than 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Israel, the Hamas official said, was demanding that dozens of Palestinians imprisoned after being convicted of involvement in lethal attacks be deported upon their release. Hamas had accepted that some released prisoners would be exiled but wanted them to be able to choose their destinations, said officials familiar with the negotiations. As a right-wing leader, Netanyahu faces a particular dilemma in freeing Palestinians who might commit further violence. But he is also under heavy public pressure to win Shalit's release. The soldier was seized in 2006 by militants who tunnelled into Israel from the Gaza Strip, now ruled by Hamas. In another development, police in Israel are searching the beaches and sea off the country's southern coast after two barrels packed with explosives washed ashore. Israeli sources said the devices were part of a foiled operation by Gaza gunmen against Israeli ships. Palestinian gunmen have claimed responsibility for the failed attacks.
