Gilad Shalit: 5 Years On

From Yahoo News:

"Israel marks five years since capture of soldier"

Parents of an Israeli soldier snatched by Palestinians five years ago chained themselves to railings near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday to protest their son's continued captivity. Sergeant Gilad Shalit's parents Noam and Aviva, his brother Yoel and Yoel's girlfriend Yaara Winkler used a length of chain and a padlock to attach themselves to the railings of a building metres (yards) from Netanyahu's official residence. "We are a family already in captivity for five years; we'll stay here as long as necessary," Noam Shalit told journalists. The group was quickly ringed by members of Netanyahu's security detail, but there was no immediate attempt to move them. The action took place close to the pavement protest tent where Shalit's parents and supporters have spent the past year. Earlier Saturday, French Ambassador Christophe Bigot gave Aviva and Noam Shalit a letter from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Gilad, who also holds French nationality, saying "France will never abandon you." Sarkozy's letter, addressed "Dear Gilad" and seen by AFP, said the French president does not accept "the isolation which your jailers have imposed upon you for five years, in violation of all the norms of international law and the most basic principles of humanity." "You are spending the years of your youth in the most extreme solitude," Sarkozy wrote. "This situation is outrageous. Nothing could justify it." "It is time for those responsible for your captivity to take the decision to cease this endless, unacceptable and revolting imprisonment." Bigot told reporters France was doing everything possible to win Shalit's freedom but that he could not give details.

In Gaza City, Hamas organised a ceremony of its own. Its supporters erected a fake jail cell and had someone dress up as Shalit in an Israeli army uniform. A cake with five flowers, to indicate the five years of his captivity, was placed in front of him. A loudspeaker played a recording of Shalit pleading with Netanyahu to free him. It was taken from a video -- the last proof he was alive -- that was released in October 2009. A banner said: "The Red Cross asked for the release of Shalit, but we are asking the Red Cross if it has heard of the 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails." On Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said "the United States condemns in the strongest possible terms his continued detention, and joins other governments and international organisations around the world in calling on Hamas to release him immediately." UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for Shalit's "immediate release," and asked Hamas "to protect his life, treat him humanely, prove that he is alive and allow the Shalit family to have contact with their son."

^ For anyone who thinks that the Palestinians deserve their own state when the government they elected into power (Hamas) is a terrorist group that kidnaps people they should go and talk to Shalit's family and hear what they have to say. I'm sure that after doing so they will quickly change their mind. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110625/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansprisonershalitanniversary