Ashkelon rally: Red Cross must visit Shalit

Demonstrators gather outside Shikma Prison in south Israel as Palestinian mothers arrive to visit their sons, protest against 'unjust conditions' kidnapped IDF soldier is being held in
Shmulik Hadad

Several dozen people gathered outside Ashkelon's Shikma Prison Wednesday morning, to protest the fact that the 120 Palestinians imprisoned there receive regular visits from relatives and Red Cross officials, while kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who is reportedly being held in Gaza, has yet to receive any visit since his capture by Palestinian terrorists in June 2006.

The demonstrators gathered at the prison at 7:30 am, when the mothers of the Hamas inmates usually arrive for their weekly visit, waving signs reading "Red Cross – have you met with Gilad yet?" and "Gilad also wants a visit."

"My friends and I came here because we believe the conditions Gilad is being kept in are unjust, particularly in comparison to those of the prisoners who are being held in this prison," said Yora Sokolovsly, a ninth-grader from Ashkelon.

"Of course we demand that Gilad be released, but until that happens Israel should at least be privy to some sort of information that will shed light on his fate."

'Gilad also wants a visit' (Photo: Amir Cohen)

Among the demonstrators was new Likud member Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the grandson and namesake of the famed Zionist and Revisionist leader. "(Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert could have taken steps to pressure Hamas (into releasing Shalit) as his term is drawing to a close, but unfortunately he did not," he said, "preventing the Palestinian mothers from visiting the inmates would have caused such pressure on Hamas' leadership."

Yoel Marshak, head of the United Kibbutz Movement's assignments division, said some of the rally's organizers met with Red Cross officials on Tuesday to protest the fact that the organization was not intervening in the matter.

"They admitted to us that Hamas should allow Shalit to receive visits. The head of the Red Cross' delegation is expected to leave for Gaza today, and we hope he will be able to advance matters," he said.