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'Release Gilad'
Noam Shalit takes the case to free
his son to the U.N.
M ir iam Als te r/Flas h 90
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L'Shanah Tovah!
Noam Shalit, right, wants his son's release to be a precondition to any vote
in the U.N. on recognition of a Palestinian state.
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60 September 22 • 2011
oam Shalit, the father of
captive Israeli soldier Gilad
Shalit, wants his son's
plight to be part of the discussion of
Palestinian statehood at the United
Nations later this month.
In his view, Shalit's release should
be a precondition of any vote at the
United Nations on recognition of a
Palestinian state.
Shalit was in New York earlier this
month meeting with U.N. ambassa-
dors from various nations, including
pro-Palestinian ones, to make his case.
Whether or not they'll take his view
into consideration is an open ques-
tion. But in at least one corner, Shalit
won considerable sympathy: The City
Council of New York proclaimed Sept.
7 Gilad Shalit Day.
The point of Shalit's trip was to keep
the issue of his son's captivity from
being forgotten amid world events,
and to use those events as a lever to
secure Gilad's release.
"We hope he'll be home for Rosh
Hashanah:' Shalit told a meeting of
the New York City Council, saying a
prisoner-exchange deal between Israel
and Hamas is "the only way."
In a 30-minute interview with JTA
last Friday, Shalit talked about the
need to put pressure on all sides using
whatever tools are available. In the
more than five years since Gilad Shalit
was captured in a cross-border raid on
the Israel-Gaza frontier in June 2006,
the Shalit family has done all it can to
make sure the plight of the captive sol-
dier remains high on Israelis' minds.
Shalit and his wife, Aviva, set up a
protest tent opposite the prime min-
ister's residence in Jerusalem that has
not budged in more than two years.
They've held nationwide marches, dis-
rupted Independence Day ceremonies
and prompted myriad campaigns to
pressure the Israeli government to cut
a deal with Hamas, including a recent
one for Shalit's 25th birthday. There
are Free Shalit wristbands, bumper
stickers and banners.
Last week, Shalit met in the United
States with American Jewish organiza-
tions to strategize on how to lobby the
Obama administration to put more
pressure on the Palestinian Authority,
which he believes can pressure Hamas.
Shalit dismisses the notion that the
Palestinian Authority cannot influence
Hamas or does not share responsibil-
ity for his son's captivity.
"How can they say they have no
leverage on Hamas?" he said. "The
Palestinian Authority is going to the
U.N. to appeal for one Palestinian
entity, not two. They want one state for
the Palestinian people. The Palestinian
Authority cannot absolve itself of
responsibility; it holds responsibility
for all the Palestinian people"
Release Gilad
on page 62