Hamas chief in exile Khaled Masha'al announced on Sunday that IDF soldier Gilad Schalit is alive and being treated well. It was the first time any details concerning the soldier's condition have been revealed aisde from an audio message and letters received by his family in the almost two years since his abduction in June 2006.

In an interview on the international Sky News, Masha'al speaking from Damascus said "we are at a crticial point in which we can save Gilad and prevent another Ron Arad case. It is up to Olmert to make a decision, he is the ship's captain, " Masha'al said. Referring to Schalit's condition Masha'al said " Gilad is still alive and we are treating him in a good way while the Israelis treat our prisoners badly and everyone knows that."

Masha'al accused Israel of being the main obstacle in reaching a deal and added "let the civilian people from the two sides be free of our conflict."

Masha'al blamed the Arab world for the Palestinians' repeated failure to defeat the "Israeli occupation" militarily. "We didn't lose as a result of not recognizing Israel or accepting their rules and conditions or the American rules and conditions. We lose because of the Arab weakness."

Referring to the Holocaust, Masha'al said Hamas believes that the number of Jews killed  was "exaggerated."

"We don't deny the Holocaust, but we believe the Holocaust, was exaggerated by the Zionist movement to whip people," he said. "We don't deny the fact but we don't accept two issues. We don't accept the exaggerating of numbers and we don't accept that Israel uses this to do what it wants."

 When asked why Hamas continues to fire Kassam rockets at Israel, Masha'al responded that the attacks were "an ordinary reaction towards the Israeli occupation and their Apache helicopters and F16 jets.' 03/31/08

Margot Dudkevitch

Infolive.tv