Kidnapped soldier's father: It's time to free my son

One day after formation of Palestinian unity government, Noam Shalit calls on Khaled Mashaal to allow his son Gilad to come home. Israel is ready to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, he says, but the Palestinian government's patrons are causing delays
Ahiya Raved

Israel Blamed

Mashaal blames Israel for stuck prisoner exchange talks / Roee Nahmias

Hamas leader says Israel deliberately hindering talks to release kidnapped soldier Shalit in return for hundred of prisoners, calls on soldier's father to exert pressure on Israeli government

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Noam Shalit, father of the kidnapped Israel soldier Gilad Shalit, held Damascus-based Hamas kingpin Khaled Mashaal accountable for his son's continued captivity, in a Ynet interview on Sunday.

The establishment of a Palestinian unity government has been presented in recent weeks as a watershed event that will bring freedom to the kidnapped soldier, held in Gaza since July 2006. In a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held last weekend, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that the young soldier would be freed "within days," even before a Palestinian unity government was established.

Hamas-Fatah handshakes and agreements have come and gone but the kidnapped soldier is still being held somewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Shalit said that he had no illusions about his son's release. "I am too realistic to believe these declarations. But I certainly see how Khaled Mashaal, one of the signatories of the Mecca accords and one of the sponsors of Palestinian unity government, is prolonging the affair.

"The government of Israel has already agreed to free hundreds of prisoners in exchange for my son. Today it is Mashaal, who has been holding my son for nine months, who is responsible for the delay in reaching an agreement on freeing him," said Shalit. "I call on him to bring the affair to a conclusion as soon as possible … and to bring about the freedom of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, who are also being held hostage to his tactics. Mashaal must understand that he will have to compromise in order for a prisoner exchange to take place."

According to the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, quoted over the weekend, Israeli inflexibility is responsible for the delay in reaching a prisoner swap accord. Shalit, calling such reports "Palestinian spin," insisted that "Mashaal is the key to an exchange agreement."