The Islamic militant group Hamas will start kidnapping Israeli soldiers to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners if Israel does not free them under a three-month truce, a Hamas leader said today.
Nizar Rayyan, a political leader of Hamas, urged the Palestinian Authority and Arab mediators to press Israel to release all Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has freed some prisoners but has said it will not release any who were involved in attacks on Israelis.
"We will get you (prisoners) released under the truce if possible," Rayyan told 3,000 supporters at a rally in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, referring to the ceasefire announced by militant groups on June 29th.
"But if the truce turns out not to have been the way to release you, we will return to (the strategy of) kidnapping Jewish officers and soldiers until the last Palestinian prisoner is freed," he said.
Protesters waved Palestinian and Hamas flags and held posters of jailed militants.
Hamas has kidnapped soldiers in the past to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners, including members of Hamas, but has not used the tactic since 1995 and not at all in the uprising for independence which the Palestinians began in September 2000.
Israel say there are about 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails but the Palestinians put the number at about 8,000.
Hamas and other militant groups have made their release a key condition for the truce to succeed. The ceasefire is vital to the US-backed peace "road map" intended to end violence and establish a Palestinian state in 2005.
"We will free you all without discrimination," Rayyan said. "You will either be liberated during the truce or we will liberate you through the kidnapping of soldiers."