Noam Shalit: Hamas halted talks over my son's release
Father of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit says Israel has made positive steps toward reaching deal with group.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Gilad Shalit Hamas Khaled MeshalNoam Shalit, the father of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces solider Gilad Shalit, on Sunday blamed Hamas for a breakdown in talks over his son's release, speaking to Israel Radio.
Shalit said the Islamic Group, which controls the Gaza Strip, had halted the negotiations even though Israel had made a number of positive steps in compiling a list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in return for his son, as part of an exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants from his IDF position in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
For its part, Hamas' Damascus-based political chief Khaled Meshal said Saturday night that talks over Shalit have been almost completely frozen because of Israel's refusal to free most of the prisoners the militant group has requested be released.
Shalit told Israel Radio in response that Meshal's comments an attempt to cover up the division between Hamas' Damascus and Gaza leaderships.
A number of times since the abduction, Noam Shalit has blasted the government, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in particular, over failure to do enough to secure his son's release.
On Wednesday, Noam Shalit slammed the government and the military for not taking responsibility for the failures that led to the abduction.
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