|
World Jewish News
IDF chief vows Israel making every effort for Shalit
08.04.2009
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that Israel is making every effort to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
"This is the third Pesach seder without Gilad, and we are making every effort to bring him back," Ashkenazi told Army Radio.
Shalit was abducted by Gaza militants in a 2006 cross-border raid. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure his release broke down shortly before the end of former prime minister Ehud Olmert's tenure.
"It is my obligation as the chief of the army to do this," Ashkenazi added. "We sent him there and we will bring him back. We are using every possible avenue, and it would not be right to say more than that."
The IDF chief also said he was happy with the recent quiet in the south, but said that Israel would not hesitate to act again in the Gaza Strip if forced to do so.
"IDF soldiers can never be calm, but the civilians need to be," he said. "Our forces are spread out across the country, and we pay attention to everything that happens."
Shalit friends to hold protest seder outside Netanyahu home
Shalit's friends and an organization working for the abducted soldier's release plan to hold a Passover seder outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence Wednesday night. They say it is to protest the lack of progress on freeing Shalit, who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for over 1,000 days.
"We still don't see Gilad's freedom on the horizon," Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, said Tuesday after meeting with Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office. The hour-long meeting, which was also attended by officials involved in the prisoner swap negotiations, was the first between the Shalits and the new prime minister.
Speaking to Haaretz after the meeting, Shalit said that this year too, for the third year in a row, the family will not hold a seder. "We won't celebrate the seder - there's no reason for optimism. There is a bad feeling on the holiday eve because Gilad still isn't free. We will only celebrate when Gilad comes home," he said.
Shalit said he hoped negotiations would be accelerated soon, but declined to comment on whether they would proceed from the point at which they stopped before prime minister Ehud Olmert left office last week.
Organizers of tonight's seder said friends of fallen IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser would also participate in the meal, and that they had invited all 120 members of Knesset as well.
"Gilad could have been home for the holiday had the previous prime minister made the issue a top national priority," said organizer Yoav Balaks-Boneh, Shalit's former company commander in the IDF. "We will mark the holiday opposite the prime minister's home."
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Источник: Haaretz
|
|
