GAZA CITY - A ceasefire by Palestinian militant groups would be destined to failure without Israel allowing the release of all Palestinian prisoners, a senior official from the radical Hamas movement said Monday.
"Any ceasefire or period of calm will not succeed while our prisoners continue to languish inside Israeli prisoners," Ismail Haniyeh said at a protest held by prisoners' families in Gaza.
"When Hamas decided to observe a calm period, it had said the release of prisoners was the most important issue," he added.
"The question of the prisoners is a priority for the Palestinian people and the factions and it cannot be ignored."
Haniyeh's comments came a day ahead of key talks in Cairo between Palestinian factions over whether to declare a formal ceasefire.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is to attend the five-day talks, said last week that he expected armed factions to agree to a ceasefire at the meeting, which had been delayed by a Palestinian suicide bombing.
Hamas, the largest radical group, has respected an unofficial cooling down period after Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January following the death of the late Yasser Arafat.
Following a landmark February 8 summit in Egypt, at which Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a truce, Israel freed 500 prisoners as part of a series of goodwill gestures.
But the release of a second batch of 400 detainees was postponed after last month's deadly suicide attack in Tel Aviv which was claimed by Hamas's smaller rival, Islamic Jihad.
An estimated 7,600 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons.
03/14/2005 15:39 GMT