Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who has been held hostage in Gaza since last June is still alive.

"We are sure he is alive and we want him to return alive," Abbas said at a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in West Bank city of Ramallah.

"We try to release him alive and we have responsibility over him," Abbas said, adding that "this is why it took this long time."

"When we talk about the soldier, we also talk about the Palestinian prisoners," added Abbas, responding to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who on Sunday criticized Abbas for not releasing Shalit.

Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that Abbas blatantly violated a promise to secure the release of Shalit before forming a new Palestinian national unity government, which was set up in mid March, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.

Shalit was kidnapped last June by Palestinian militant groups who demand to exchange him for some 1,000 Palestinians prisoners in Israeli jails.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2007)