Israel prevents Palestinian families from visiting jailed kin

In response to the growing pressure generated by the grassroots campaign on behalf of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, the Israel Prison Service announced that it will not allow Palestinians incarcerated for security-related offenses in two correctional facilities to receive their loved ones and relatives for visits on Tuesday.

Palestinian relatives will not be able to see inmates at the Hadarim and Shikma prisons. Visits to Palestinians jailed at Megiddo Prison will be held as scheduled.

Adallah, the Arab human rights organization, criticized the IPS decision on Monday as "fawning, populistic, and illegal."

The head organizers of the campaign urging the government to win Shalit's release plan on stepping up their public relations efforts. Last weekend, top campaign officials announced that they were launching a new Web site in which volunteers could propose and organize events, protests, demonstrations, and the like.

Those who register with the Web site can also post content and opinions through personal blogs.

The site, which will carry the title "Gilad's Army of Friends," has already enlisted the services of a number of Israel's cultural luminaries. A television commercial produced by one of the country's prominent marketing firms includes cameos from actresses Gilat Ankori and Keren Mor, recording artist Ninet Tayeb, rocker Yehuda Poliker, journalists Guy Meroz and Orly Vilnai, and many others.

The Web site organizers hope to attract one million surfers from Israel and abroad. "We are setting up the Army of Friends in anticipation of the moment when the family reaches the conclusion that nothing significant has been done and we will embark on a new mode of struggle," a spokesperson for the group said. "Nonetheless, we still hope that these things will move in the right direction."

Last weekend, Egyptian intelligence officials met with the Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Meshal, in Damascus.

The Egyptian delegation was headed by General Mohammed Ibrahim, who has overseen the Israel-Hamas negotiations in the Shalit affair on behalf of the Cairo regime.

Ibrahim, an assistant to Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, is also Egypt's top official who is responsible for mediating the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks.