Raed Moussa-Gaza

Leading sources in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the decision of the European Court of First Instance - canceling the inclusion of Hamas and its military wing, the martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam on the lists of terrorism - will push for European mediation to achieve a prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, predicted that Germany would be specifically involved in indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel to finalize the prisoner exchange deal, but this intervention will not take place before the Israeli general elections scheduled for September 17.

The sources said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been refusing in recent years to enter into serious negotiations to reach an exchange deal for fear of overthrowing his post, but it may be different after the upcoming elections, whatever the results.

Hossam al-Dajani, a professor of political science at the University of the Nation, told Al Jazeera Net that the recent European Court decision falls in the context of the ongoing reviews of Europe towards Hamas, expecting this decision to be beyond the level of the European relationship with Hamas.

Al-Dajani supported the interpretation that this decision is a prelude to activating the prisoner exchange deal, considering that the classification of Hamas as a European terrorist movement impedes any European role, especially by Germany, the most prominent EU power, in dealing with the movement or mediating any file to which it is a party.

Dijani linked the decision to a previous visit by the German foreign minister to Gaza a few months ago, saying Berlin was likely to play a pivotal role in any possible deal between Hamas and Tel Aviv.

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European mediation
The sources said that Hamas is open to dealing with any European mediation to activate the file of prisoner exchange with Israel, provided that an Israeli guarantee to pay the price and benefits of this deal.

She stressed that Hamas will not accept any mediation to complete the exchange deal, before Israel is committed to the release of prisoners released in the Shalit deal, as a prelude to any new deal.

The sources revealed that the movement has repeatedly rejected interventions and proposals from several parties, which refused to disclose, to hold negotiations on an exchange deal without preconditions.

In October 2011, the two sides concluded an Egyptian-Egyptian exchange deal, under which Israel freed 1,027 prisoners in exchange for Hamas's release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, which the group managed to keep since capturing it in June 2006.

But in mid-2014, Tel Aviv re-arrested about 60 prisoners of the Shalit deal in the occupied West Bank, and the number of prisoners in its prisons currently exceeds 6,500, according to official Palestinian statistics.

It is noteworthy that Germany had a role in the indirect negotiations that led to the Shalit deal brokered directly from Egypt.

The sources considered that the designation of Hamas as a terrorist movement has been a constraint to any role of the European Union in Gaza, especially with regard to the equitable relationship between Hamas and the resistance factions and Israel.

Four soldiers
Since 2014, the Qassam Brigades have been holding four Israeli soldiers, refusing to determine their fate or giving any free information about their health, while Tel Aviv insists that at least two of them have been killed.

However, Hamas has repeatedly given indirect signals that it has the strength of cards to achieve an "honorable exchange deal", the latest of which was stated by the head of the political bureau of the movement, Ismail Haniyeh, in which he said: Land, unless they respond to our demands and those of the Palestinian people. "

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the political bureau, said in remarks published by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Resala website in Gaza that "the price of any exchange deal is prisoners in exchange for prisoners, which is a well-established and stable equation."

Zahar added, "The resistance determines the names of the prisoners who are demanding their release, not the occupation, and who plays on the food, food and medicine against the prisoners, this will not be done."