Thousands of Israelis are expected to join a 12-day march across the country beginning today to put pressure on their government to secure the release of Gilad Shalit, the soldier abducted by Hamas four years ago.
The Shalit family and their supporters will set out from their home in Mitzpe Hila, Galilee, and take a winding route through Israel to Jerusalem. They hope to be joined by artists, musicians, rabbis, activists and "tens of thousands" of ordinary people. On arrival in Jerusalem, Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, plans to establish a protest tent outside the home of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, where he has pledged to remain until his son is freed.
"We don't see any alternative after four years of government failure to obtain the release of my son," Shalit told the Observer. "There have been many, many failures, but now it's time to put public pressure on the government."
The Shalits yesterday released a video urging Netanyahu to "pay the price" necessary for Gilad's release. In a direct appeal, Noam Shalit says: "Enough talk. Now is the time for decisions." Asked if "the price" – the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners – was too high for one soldier, he said: "The price is not our business to deal with."
An opinion poll published on Friday showed that almost 75% of Israelis support the release of Palestinian prisoners serving sentences for militant attacks in return for Shalit's freedom.
His fate has huge resonance in Israel, where military service is a requirement. Most families can identify closely with the Shalits' loss. Gilad Shalit, then 19, was abducted and two other Israeli soldiers killed when militants burrowed underneath the border in southern Gaza to raid a military post on 25 June, 2006.
The Shalit family has asked Hamas to permit an exchange of letters, which has been refused, according to their lawyer Nick Kaufman. The International Red Cross has also been denied access, which Hamas says could reveal the soldier's location, leading to an Israeli raid or air strike. Hamas last week claimed it had allowed Shalit to watch the France v Mexico World Cup match. Shalit, who has dual Israeli-French nationality, was "very sad" at France's defeat, Hamas's al-Aqsa satellite TV station reported.
There has been no direct proof-of-life evidence since Hamas released a video of the soldier last autumn, in which he was holding a Palestinian newspaper dated 14 September 2009, in exchange for the release of 20 women prisoners being held by Israel.
The Israeli media is backing the renewed Shalit family campaign, with most newspapers urging the government to strike a deal over his release.
Intense negotiations – brokered by the German intelligence agency, the BND – to reach an agreement with Hamas foundered earlier this year. Each side blames the other for the impasse.
Hamas's list of prisoners to be released in exchange for Shalit is believed to include Marwan Barghouti, a popular Fatah leader serving five life sentences, and Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who Israel believes was behind the assassination of tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. "A deal is on the table," said Kaufman. "It was brokered with the full co-operation of both sides. Israel essentially agreed to release the Palestinian prisoners, but to date Hamas hasn't given a formal response."
According to Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, negotiations came to a halt after the personal intervention of Netanyahu. Zahar told the Observer he was "fed up" with talking about Shalit but referred to earlier comments he had made blaming the Israelis for the breakdown in negotiations. However, there have also been suggestions that the deal was vetoed by Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader based in Damascus.
Mark Regev, Netanyahu's spokesman, said: "We have a responsibility as a government to bring back Gilad Shalit. But the prime minister also has a collective responsibility, and to sign on the bottom line of Hamas's demands would not be fulfilling that."
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