Last update - 00:00 20/02/2007
Livnat pulls 'Barghouti Law' under pressure from abducted soldiers' families
By Gideon Alon and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Responding to pressure from the parents of the three Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted last summer, MK Limor Livnat on Tuesday withdrew a bill which would have required approval from at least 80 MKs to release security prisoners responsible for terror attacks.
The soldiers' parents had spoken out against Livnat's "Barghouti Law," saying it would harm the chances of the soldiers' release.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told members of Knesset on Tuesday that Israel should ask the United Nations secretary general to take additional steps toward the release of the soldiers.
The Knesset plenum held a special session on Tuesday, six months after the UN adopted Resolution 1701, which called for a cease-fire in Lebanon. During the session, Livni said that Israel has been working on secret channels to return the soldiers.
"We are operating along secret routes and at the same time are obligated to leave your children on the political agenda," Livni told the parents of the abducted soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit. "We will continue to work, and I am praying withy you that one day we will be able to hug them with you."
The families of the three soldiers met earlier Tuesday with Livnat, and
expressed their dissatisfaction with the bill. Livnat promised to consider their request and soften the stance of the bill.
Gilad Shalit's father Noam, who met MK Zevulon Orlev (National Religious Party) along with other family members of the kidnapped soldiers, said that "Livnat's bill may be the death sentence on a prisoners deal. I would ask her what she would do if her son was kidnapped, but this is not a personal matter but a national issue."
"This bill has no place as long as the kidnapped soldiers are in captivity," said Shalit.