ISRAEL: Protesters hold rally near Gaza border crossing to pressure Israel to secure release of captive soldier

Record ID: 401007

  • Title: ISRAEL: Protesters hold rally near Gaza border crossing to pressure Israel to secure release of captive soldier
  • Date: 20th October 2008
  • Summary: (BN14) KEREM SHALOM, ISRAEL (OCTOBER 19, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SIGN LEADING TO KEREM SHALOM CROSSING BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA, NEAR THE ABDUCTION SITE OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS GILAD SHALIT FLAG WITH SHALIT'S PICTURE AS CARS ARRIVE FOR RALLY BANNERS READING 'GILAD IS STILL ALIVE' CROWD ARRIVING FOR RALLY CALLING FOR THE RELEASE OF GILAD SHALIT
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA27SUX791BBJPZPX4FRWG2YP8X
  • Story Text: Several hundred protesters hold rally near border crossing with Gaza in effort to pressure Israel to reach a deal on release of abducted Israeli soldier. Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak says Israel will do all it takes to free Gilad Shalit.
    Several hundred protesters rallied near a border crossing in the Gaza Strip on Sunday (October 19) in an effort to pressure Israel to reach a deal on the release of a captive Israeli soldier.
    Several hundred Israelis held the event near the Kerem Shalom crossing, between Israel, Egypt and Gaza to call on Israel to seal a deal with Hamas to release Corporate Gilad Shalit abducted by Gaza militants in June last year.
    Father of Shalit, Noam Shalit, told Reuters that although he does not count on the rallies to free his son, they are still very important.
    "I'm not counting on these rallies, but I think it comes from the bottom of the heart of the people. Clearly it's a signal from the people to the politicians, to the decision makers that people like very much to see Gilad back at home and not to repeat this tragic destiny of the pilot Ron Arad and his family of course, that pays the price for the failures in the past," Shalit said referring to the Israeli airman captured by Shi'ite militiamen in 1986 after bailing out of his crippled warplane over Lebanon.
    Earlier in the day, protesters blocked dozens of trucks loaded with food and supplies from entering the coastal enclave which Hamas seized from President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah forces a year ago.
    "He (Gilad Shalit) was abducted during a military assignment whilst defending your region and I am telling you and Noam and Aviva (Gilad Shalit's parents) and Shalit family and to all citizens of the country, we will not sit quietly -- there is not one day that goes by when I do not deal with this, it keeps me from sleeping and we will continue to act seriously and responsibly in every possible channel," said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak during a festive gathering at a traditional hut built during the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv. "This is our top priority as his commanders and I am willing to take every possible and worthy action to bring Gilad home," added Barak.
    Hamas officials have been holding talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials on a deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel.
    Hamas had sought the release of some 1,400 prisoners, a third of them serving several life terms, in return for freeing Shalit, whom Hamas and two other militant groups abducted in a cross-border attack in 2006.
    Israel had said it wants to speed up the talks over Shalit and the decision by Hamas could influence planned talks over the opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israel signalled could only take place in the event of progress on Shalit's case
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