Al Batsh: “Only solution to bring our prisoners home, is to capture friends for Shalit”

April 17th - ‘Day of the Prisoner', is an important event in the Palestinian and Arab conscience, where Palestinians in a number of areas of occupied Palestine, and the Arab world, held celebrations, in which the need to give the prisoners and detainees issue close attention was highlighted.

The Palestinian resistance saw that "valuing prisoners and their standing occurs through the resumption of resistance and accomplishment of national reconciliation, while gathering the necessary support for their cause, at Arab and international levels."

The Islamic Jihad leader "Mr. Khaled Al Batsh" emphasised in an interview with "alintiqad.net" that the only solution for the prisoners issue is to capture new friends for the Zionist-prisoner Gilad Shalit, to give him company, because this Zionist enemy only understands force." 

Al Batsh added saying: "Hizbullah gave a clear example of how to deal with the ‘Israeli' occupation through prisoner exchanges."

While Khaled Al Batsh praised Hizbullah's efforts to "Free as many Arab prisoners as possible, as well as Palestinian prisoners", he explained that "the Palestinian resistance is doing everything in its power to liberate these prisoners, and pledges to continue in its onward procession of jihad and resistance, until its goals are achieved, like freeing our dear children languishing in enemy cells."

The Islamic Jihad leader indicated that "The resistance, which has taken it upon itself to liberate our brothers from ‘Zionist' jails, considers itself the first and perhaps only side concerned in upholding the Palestinian prisoners files and cause." He also firmly stated that Gilad Shalit "Should not remain alone, work efforts must be underway to capture more Zionist soldiers, dead or alive, as this enemy only releases our prisoners through this logic-the only logic adopted by our sons in the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine."

Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh said "Since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993, all alternative avenues pursued to liberate our prisoners and detainees held in ‘Israeli' captivity, have failed, even the vast majority of elderly detainees, whose sentences already expired, are still imprisoned by the Zionist executioner." 

Al Batsh added: "The only choice our people have is to unite, end internal division, free and ready ourselves to face the enemy and his schemes, the most recent of which is the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan and the Gaza Strip."

As for developments in the prisoner exchange operation, between Palestinian prisoners and Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit, the Islamic Jihad leader pointed out that "New moves are being made by the German mediator on the line of reactivating indirect negotiations", revealing that according to Palestinian resistance information "Israel" is stalling for as long as it could, in order to uncover the Zionist captive's location.

It is doing this through its agents at times, and at others through aerial surveillance and eavesdropping, behind all this, it aims to kill Shalit along with his captors by an air strike, to eliminate the burden of negotiation, and forfeit his exchange value if he was alive."

In conclusion, the leader of the Movement of Islamic Jihad, Khaled Al Batsh "Saluted the Hizbullah Party and its resistance in Lebanon, for all its efforts and contributions to protect and motivate the Palestinian resistance and assist it in all possible ways and means."
Al Batsh expressed his hope that "God would shield the leaders of this party and champion the resistance for the good of the Islamic nation and its central cause- Palestine...