Noam Shalit appeals to Palestinian public to back prisoner swap
Father of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit to hold East Jerusalem press conference urging parents of Palestinian prisoners to pressure Hamas into exchange deal.
By Jack Khoury Tags: Israel news Noam Shalit Gilad Shalit PalestiniansThe father of Gilad Shalit is to hold a press conference directly appealing to the parents of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel to pressure the Hamas government to agree to an exchange deal for Gilad Shalit's release, Haaretz learned on Saturday.
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Yuval Arad, center, the daughter of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, marching with Noam and Aviva Shalit, the parents of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, in Jerusalem on July 8, 2010. |
| Photo by: Emil Salman |
Noam Shalit announced he would hold a press conference in east Jerusalem marking 1,500 day since Gilad Shalit was abducted by Hamas in 2006, which also marked the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan. During the intended rally, Shalit said he would urge the Palestinian public to make sure their relatives "celebrate Eid al-Fitr [the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan] with their family, and not in a prison cell in Israel."
Shalit has directly addressed the Palestinian public and its leaders in the past in an attempt to speed up the negotiations for his son's release. The negotiations for an exchange deal mediated by Germany have been at a standstill over the last few months over disagreement regarding the list of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners Israel is expected to release for Shalit's release.
In June 2006, Palestinian gunmen tunneled under the Gaza-Israel border and raided an IDF position close to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Two IDF soldiers were killed, three were wounded, and Gilad Shalit was taken captive.
Ahead of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah last year, Noam Shalit addressed a crowd of Israelis and Palestinians lamenting the fact that the abducted Israeli soldier would "celebrate" the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah in Gaza, instead of in Israel with his family.
"Gilad is so close to here, and yet so far away," Army Radio quoted Noam Shalit as saying. "We're standing here on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which Gilad will 'celebrate' in Hamas' basements in Gaza. For a stretch of 1,200 days and nights, [he has been] away from his family, friends and the State of Israel."
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.... But so are the thousands of Palestinians and Arabs sitting in Israeli jails with no former charges against them ... May be instead of appealing for the release of Gilad only should speak for release of all political prisoners disregarding their nationalities, religious and political background ...
I pray day and night for all those prisoners who are captive just because they defend their people..I am for the release of Shalit not doubt about this but I am also for the release of thousands of Palestinians who fought the occupation some of which were jailed before Shalit was born and still in prison. Some may say that those killed civilians..well, sorry, but look at the Israelis who killed 1000s of civilian palestinians some of the victims were killed Dec. 2008. Any way, politicians' calculation is different, they look at their political gain and not to the suffering of the families.
I pray day and night for all those prisoners who are captive just because they defend their people..I am for the release of Shalit not doubt about this but I am also for the release of thousands of Palestinians who fought the occupation some of which were jailed before Shalit was born and still in prison. Some may say that those killed civilians..well, sorry, but look at the Israelis who killed 1000s of civilian palestinians some of the victims were killed Dec. 2008. Any way, politicians' calculation is different, they look at their political gain and not to the suffering of the families.
As if the Palestinian people are going to accept Israel's terms for one of its own when hundreds and thousands of Palestinians are illegally de- tained in Israeli jails....Please get real. Dutch
hamas is an enemy of civilisation, humanity and sensible decency. they have reached such a level of barbarity that now they don't even want to free palestinians from israeli prisons.
Noam shalit began to negotiate with palestinians before Israeli politicians. I think he lost his hopes on them. So, He will solve the problem by himself. I appreciate him.
Anyone who has a child can understand what agony he must be in ! He is a brave man (and his wife is brave too) and he is using all his means and all his capacity in order to get his son back home again - safe and alive. Come on now and give him the credit he deserves, and don´t hit him in the head with all the tragedies of imprisoned Palestinians - he didn´t imprison them
I think they should do a deal for humanitarian reasons, but they've concluded that a deal gains them nothing - I think Shalit has come to this conclusion. So why not put pressure on Hamas - maybe Palestinians will have more success getting Hamas to agree that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are worth freeing, then Shalit has had convincing the Isreali gov't that his son is worth freeing.
Israel has agreed to free hundreds of prisoners - Hamas continues to refuse to deal. They say they will not budge, but they have already budged from their original position. I assume the families of the prisoners wasting away in Israeli prisoners want them released If the Palestinian public cares at all about their prisoners rotting in Israeli prisons they will pressure Hamas to agree to a deal that has been on the table of some time.
"Shalit said he would urge the Palestinian public to make sure their relatives celebrate Eid al-Fitr with their family, and not in a prison cell in Israel." er its Israel holding these people hostages. He should be all this to Netanyahu
successive
Israel has sorted a deal out years ago, Hamas refuses to swap.
When you release a prisonner of war, you cannot impose him not to go back to his country. This is what Bibi tried to do, and the reason why the deal has kept failing.
It must be accepted that the Israeli govt. has the power to resolve this issue, and initiate the release of Shalit. The trouble is -- and history has repeatedly proven this -- that very little can get in the way of a deep-rooted ideological mission. A quick look at the history of imperialism and colonialism would affirm this fact. More importantly, what also should be known and accepted, is that it is always the case that the ultimate power lies with the people -- the majority, without whom ideologies could not become reality. Dictatorships, colonialism and imperialism always -- not sometimes -- do end, at some point. What lasts is the will of peoples who want the fundamental right to self-determination, and to live in dignity.
It must be accepted that the Hamas govt. has the power to resolve this issue, and initiate the release of Shalit. The trouble is -- and history has repeatedly proven this -- that very little can get in the way of a deep-rooted ideological mission. A quick look at the history of imperialism and colonialism would affirm this fact. More importantly, what also should be known and accepted, is that it is always the case that the ultimate power lies with the people -- the majority, without whom ideologies could not become reality. Dictatorships, colonialism and imperialism always -- not sometimes -- do end, at some point. What lasts is the will of peoples who want the fundamental right to self-determination, and to live in dignity.
I second that, big boy -- I agree, well said. But when you change that one word, Shalit gets released, yes, but the issues are not resolved. Be a little self-critical and you'll be more at peace.
Come on Noam get over it he is not coming home soon. Beside it is occupied Palestine and not Israel.
Israel sweeps through Palestinian areas and makes arrests all the time. They throw Palestinians into jails and give them no legal rights. This would continue even if some of the prisoners were exchanged by Israel. In no time, the jails would be full again. The Palestinians have no hope and no recourse if their loved ones are arrested by Israel. That's just the way it is for them. That's not the way it is for Noam Shalit. His son is in prison, but Netanyahu has the key. The Palestinian people can not help Shalit, even if they had a desire to do so.
They made quite a nice room for themselves in jail as you can see by the pics and many of them are eventually released with a degree. They also get weekly visits by their families, all these privileges and rights for mass murderers and baby killers Gilad shalit can only dream of. Your argument holds no water. If you want Israel to stop putting murderers in jail 1 out of 2 things will need to happen 1: Israel stops defending itself from those lowly scum or 2: they stop killing us
should appeal to his own government to release some of the 11000 Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli jails illegally. A big percentage of them are children or stripped of rights. So perhaps he and everyone else should care about humans and not just jewish people
All the imprisoned Palestinians were convicted in court, and found guilty. There is no basis for your fictional comment "A big percentage of them are children or stripped of rights". The only fact hovering your comment is that Israel is willing to pardon 800~ murderers, whom Israel imprisoned by right, for their captive Gilad Shalit. What country will ever do that? Your country? Never.