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Abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
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Last update - 10:49 26/06/2009
Shalit's father: My son has only one wish - his freedom
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel News, Shalit, Gaza 

Some 2,000 Israelis gathered in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Thursday to mark three years to the day in which Israel Defense Forces Gilad Shalit fell into captivity in a cross-border raid by Gaza-based Palestinian gunmen.

The gathering's keynote address was delivered by Shalit's father, Noam. "We stand here today, in front of the prime minister's office, the Defense Ministry, and the IDF General Staff, in front of those who three years ago, 1,095 days ago, sent Gilad on a mission from which he has not come back until this very day," Noam Shalit said.

"We are standing here today to serve as a mouthpiece for Gilad, to scream his scream," Shalit said. "He of course cannot scream from the pit in which he has been held for the last three years. It is doubtful whether he can see any sunlight, smile his sheepish and hesitant smile that was permanently etched on his face."
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"We came here this evening to express Gilad's muted yearning, his only wish," Noam Shalit said. "He asks just one thing from you, the inhabitants across the street - the decision-makers - his freedom."

The father of Gilad Shalit urged fellow Israelis on Thursday to think of his son's plight in Hamas captivity, three years after the soldier was snatched from an Israel Defense Forces post by Gaza militants.

"My request today, June 25, 2009, is for every person in the country, man and woman, young and old, to close their eyes for three minutes. Three minutes only, and to wait until these minutes are over, and in this time for everyone to try to think of what my son Gilad is going through," Noam Shalit told Army Radio.

Egyptian-brokered negotiations to secure Shalit's release broke down during the last days of former prime minister Ehud Olmert's tenure. Israel has recently picked a new negotiating team to examine ways to move forward in the case, under the leadership of former Mossad operative Haggai Hadas.


In the radio interview, Noam Shalit described his son as "a young man who is waiting with bated breath, not only for three minutes, and not only for three hours and not even for three days; but waiting in darkness and despair, suffering physically and mentally, for the freedom that was taken from him three years ago."

Supporters of the abducted soldier planned to hold a mass demonstration outside Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Shalit's parents will declare at the rally the founding of an "army of Gilad Shalit's friends," which will lead all efforts aimed at pressing the government over the soldier's case, Army Radio reported.

Shalit's brother, for his part, made a new plea to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mark the day.

"Mr. prime minister, I ask of you: Save my brother. Don't abandon him to an unknown fate. Don't wait until tomorrow, help Gilad today," Yoel Shalit said on Army Radio.

"Every day in captivity is life-threatening. Gilad is still alive and it is your responsibility and duty to bring him home."



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      1.   hat about the imprisoned palestinians? 11:59  |  LanosIceland 25/06/09
      2.   Isabella 12:10  |  Rossi 25/06/09
      3.   Gilad 13:19  |  Yves 25/06/09
      4.   Definition of Terrorists 15:32  |  ozzie 25/06/09
      5.   Please Remember Pollard also 15:50  |  Don Lary 25/06/09
      6.   #Gilad--Remember 16:25  |  Nili 25/06/09
      7.   thinking of gilad 16:37  |  chelly 25/06/09
      8.   Why ? 16:47  |  Jonny 25/06/09
      9.   Thousands are dead 16:56  |  Marilyn 25/06/09
      10.   Redraw the map 17:17  |  Fahmi Natour 25/06/09
      11.   don`t worry 17:25  |  Old man 25/06/09
      12.   Old Man#7 17:56  |  Yariv 25/06/09
      13.   Until Palestinians freed, who cares? 18:34  |  Tim 25/06/09
      14.   old man 18:43  |  to old man 25/06/09
      15.   Noam Shalit`s lack of reflection is disappointing 19:10  |  Tarik 25/06/09
      16.   #1 LanosIceland - why not ask the Red Cross 20:24  |  Jon 25/06/09
      17.   Too bad that a post appreciative of Noam Shalit 05:20  |  Mark Lincoln 26/06/09
      18.   #4 20:12  |  Anthony 26/06/09
      19.   Freedom for all Palestinian prioners and Shalit!!.. 00:19  |  Tony Silver 27/06/09
      20.   shalit`s father 08:26  |  shams 29/06/09
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