The father of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit called on Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday to apply pressure on the Hamas leadership based in Damascus to bring the affair to a positive conclusion.

Noam Shalit said that if the Syrian president were serious about his recent calls for peace talks with Israel, then he could prove it by working toward the release of his son.

"I call on President Assad today, if your intentions are truly serious, in a single telephone call you can signal to us, to the people of Israel ... that your intentions are indeed serious. All you need to do is call your friend [exiled Hamas leader] Khaled Meshal whom you are hosting for a while in Damascus, and suggest to him clearly that you are interested in putting an end to the Gilad Shalit affair, as soon as possible," said Shalit.

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"Such a move," Shalit continues in his message to Assad, "does not require you to acquiesce or surrender to Israeli demands ... only to carry out a small, humanitarian gesture, that will be a clear ... signal that you are serious in what you say."

Shalit says that even Meshal, who is holding the key to his son's release for more than six months, will have no choice but to respond to Assad's request, unless he wants to be expelled from Syria.

Shalit has in the past supported releasing Palestinian prisoners to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prior to any agreement on the release of his son, saying that his son's fate is in Hamas' hands.

Last Friday, Shalit published an open letter addressing his son and his abductors in the Palestinian daily Al Quds.