The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that they had expected the failure of negotiations with Israel concerning the Palestinian prisoners' issue.

The two hardline groups also stated that Israel's rejection to releasing Palestinian political prisoners would be the major reason "to blow up the truce agreement," and they considered it as a breaching to the agreement's terms.

Major Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, announced on June 29 three-month suspension of armed attacks against Israel with one of the conditions that the Jewish state would release all Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Hisham Abdel Raziq met with Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet's chief Avi Dichter on Tuesday at the northern Gaza Strip terminal of Eretz on the release of more than 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

But sources close to the meeting described the meeting as "a complete failure." Israeli media also reported earlier on Wednesday that Israel rejects fully the idea of releasing prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Meanwhile, the two movements said that the failure of the meeting did not lie in Israel's refusal to releasing its members, but lies in its rejection to releasing all Arab and Palestinian prisoners.

Islamic Jihad representative Mohamad al-Hindi said "our movement had expected such a failure because we knew that Israel would use the prisoners' issue to put Palestinians on the spot."

Al-Hindi called on the PNA to end all contacts with Israel, saying "the prisoners' issue, which is a very important term of the truce agreement, would be the main reason behind the annulment of the truce."

"Israel wants to blow up the hudna by refusing to release our prisoners," he said, adding "Israel would pretend to release a number of prisoners as a positive initiative before its Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Washington."

Hamas' senior representative Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantesi said "the Zionists would not release all Arab and Palestinian prisoners agreed upon in the truce agreement."

"Israel is always pretending to release prisoners by setting free only a number of Palestinians held under administrative detention, who are only laborers," Al-Rantesi stated.

Asked about Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas' and Sharon's upcoming visits to Washington, Al-Rantesi said "I don't think that these meetings would lead to any progress concerning the prisoners' file."

"Israel could release a number of prisoners after the meetings, but not all of them as we demanded," he added. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2003)