'Just World News' with Helena Cobban

Carter in Gaza: Meets Haniyyeh

Here's the Ma'an version:

De facto Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh said on Tuesday he would support any real proposal to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

Haniyeh’s comments came during a joint press conference in Gaza City with former US president Jimmy Carter. “I will exert pressures towards realizing this dream,” said Haniyeh.

Meanwhile, he said that his government in cooperation with other Palestinian factions to maintain ceasefire, yet border crossing should be opened to guarantee continuation of ceasefire.

On the Shalit issue, one interesting development has been that Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar, the "De facto foreign minister" (as Ma'an would probably put it-- I would be more likely to say "foreign minister in the elected Hamas government"), has given an interview directly to Israel Radio on the topic.

Ma'an tells us this:

Mahmoud Az-Zahhar said in an interview with Radio Israel that Hamas will consider the possibility of delivering the message [from Shalit's father] to Shalit.

He said that if Israel is interested in putting an end to the Shalit issue, they have to release Palestinian prisoners especially those demanded by Hamas. He said Israel is less interested in a prisoner swap as much as they are interested in knowing Shalit’s location in order to free him in a military raid.