Goldwasser family thanks supporters, wearily eyes 'finish line'

The parents of kidnapped soldier Ehud Goldwasser on Saturday welcomed the many journalists who stood at their door in Nahariya, and who accompanied Goldwasser and Eldad Regev's friends to the site on the Lebanese border where the pair were abducted two years ago.

"This is the army that was with us for two years. Soon it will be over for us. We ask that you keep on supporting the Shalit family. Gilad must be brought home," Miki Goldwasser, Ehud's mother, told the press.

Miki Goldwasser said the tension of the past few days, before the swap to bring back Goldwasser and Regev, were making her and her husband, Shlomo, feel "like a runner who wants to reach the finish line. The uncertainty is terrible. I hope there will be no more stumbling blocks and everything will end," Goldwasser said.

The families are very concerned over more "stumbling blocks." However, Shlomo Goldwasser told Haaretz about his conversation with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday, and said he felt the kitchen cabinet would approve the report on missing airman Ron Arad Tuesday, paving the way for the swap.

"Our feeling is that the chief of staff wants the deal to go through," Goldwasser said, adding, "I think it's not only the families that want this over; it's everyone in Israel and the Diaspora. It has become a national interest."

As opposed to previous interviews, Saturday the Goldwassers did not criticize the government or the prime minister. "It's true we thought it would not take two years, because there was a war and UN Resolution 1701. But there were swaps that took much longer than ours," Goldwasser said.

The meeting at the Goldwasser residence in Nahariya was relaxed, relative to the gathering of the friends of the abducted soldiers at the site of the kidnapping. The group of friends, who have been actively campaigning for Goldwasser and Regev's release, met at the site at the exact hour the kidnapping took place two years ago. Things looked very calm. It was hard to tell whether figures on the hill opposite were Lebanese farmers or soldiers. A United Nations helicopter hovered right over the border fence, observing both sides.

"Unfortunately, the battle took too long because of failures and spins, the amateurish conduct of the government of Israel and the prime minister's dealing with other matters," said Miki Leibovitz, the chairman of the group. He said he hoped the deal would go through this week, and "two-thirds of this nightmare will be over, and we will continue fighting to bring Gilad [Shalit] home."

Dudu Luvretzky, from Goldwasser and Regev's company, was on guard duty at the Zar'it post at the time of the kidnapping. "It's hard to believe how Hezbollah stood watching us from the bushes inside Israel's sovereign territory," he said. "I think if we had conducted offensive operations, such an event could have been avoided, but when the soldiers were almost at point-blank range, not even an elite unit could have prevented the outcome."