DAMASCUS, Syria — Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal said Thursday that his group would not recognize Israel, but it wants to join a national unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ rival Fatah faction.

He also said Hamas was ready to swap captured Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit for Palestinian prisoners.

Mashaal’s declaration came amid tension between Hamas and Abbas, who has advocated recognizing Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state on parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas has refused, and talks over forming a power-sharing government have stalled over the issue.

“Hamas will not surrender… and will not recognize Israel,” Mashaal said at a news conference in Damascus, where he lives in exile. “But Hamas does not want to be in power alone,” he added. “The real solution is the formation of a national unity government based on Palestinian principles.”

“A national unity government should take its orders from the Palestinians, not from America or Israel,” Mashaal said defiantly.

Abbas wrapped up a three-day visit in Gaza on Thursday without meeting any Hamas leaders there.

A new Palestinian government would have to deal with the captivity the Israeli soldier Shalit, who was seized by Hamas-linked militants on June 25.

“We have no interest of keeping the soldier at all. We are ready to release him…but in return for a deal, just like Hezbollah and just like Fatah who released (Israeli captives) in the past,” Mashaal said.

“If there is a swap deal, we are prepared… This is what we tell all Arab or non-Arab mediators,” he added. Arab countries like Qatar and Egypt have reportedly been trying to negotiate Shalit’s release.

Mashaal called on Arab governments to “break the siege” over the Palestinians _ the cutoff of aid by the United States, Israel and much of the West to the Palestinian government unless Hamas renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past peace agreements. Hamas has largely been unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 civil servants because of the cutoff.

Mashaal called the sanctions “a crime that will remain on the forehead of the U.S. administration and the world community…as long as they continue to drive children, women and old people to hunger.”

Mashaal also called for an Arab summit to establish a timeline for Palestinian statehood.

“We want a Palestinian state that extends to the 1967 borders, and we will never give up the right of return of refugees,” Mashaal said, referring to Israel’s boundaries before the 1967 Mideast War.

© 2006 The Associated Press