Protestors block Kerem Shalom crossing

Dozens of people calling for release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit stop trucks carrying goods from entering Gaza, set tires on fire, in protest of decision to allow supplies into Strip while negotiations stagnated. Defense Minister Barak: Rally may raise price demanded for captive

Ilana Curiel |Last update: 10.19.08 , 10:43

Struggle for Gilad Shalit's release reaches entrance to Gaza Strip. Dozens of protestors blocked the Kerem Shalom goods crossing for three hours on Sunday morning, stopping dozens of trucks from entering the Gaza Strip and raising signs reading, "Gilad is still alive."

The demonstrators, who also set tires on fire, were protesting the decision to allow goods into the Gaza Strip while the negotiations for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit are stagnated.

Warning

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The truck drivers showed their solidarity with the rally's organizers, wearing shirts with Shalit's picture.

"We are with Gilad Shalit. As far as we are concerned, the goods can go to hell. The main thing is that he returns home," said Ahmed Fawzi, a truck driver from Rahat.

Another driver joined him by saying, "The closing of the crossing hurts our livelihood, but it worth it if Gilad returns."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak criticized the protestors in an interview with Army Radio, saying that "the demonstrations require thought, as we should think about signaling to the other side in a way that will not raise the price rather than drop it.

"As for the demonstration itself, I understand these people. As an IDF chief of staff and a person who commanded fighters for decades, I feel the need to bring Gilad home safe. It's an issue which I lose sleep over night after night. Not one day goes by without me dealing with this issue."

'No more'

Shalit's family members were expected to take part in a mass rally scheduled to be held in the area Sunday afternoon.

Yoel Marshak, head of the United Kibbutz Movement's Special Assignments Division and one of the rally's organizers, said that "this situation cannot continue.

"The cry will go out from here – no more," said Marshak. "Come here to make it clear to the entire world, to the Red Cross and Hamas, that we are unwilling to continue a situation in which we don’t know whether Gilad Shalit is alive or dead, whether he is in need of medication or is sitting in a dark pit. This is our condition for opening the crossing."

Blocking entrance to Strip (Photo: Ilana Curiel)

Buma Inbar, a bereaved father from the central community of Neveh Monoson, also arrived at the Kerem Shalom goods crossing.

"My son was killed in Lebanon in 1995," he said. "I don't want to compare, but I'm in a situation which is final and I have no hope. I don’t want the Shalit family to be in my situation, and I'm ready to do everything for their son to be released.

"As a bereaved father, I came to the conclusion several years ago that the value of human life in our country is lesser than in the territories. Those who really know what human life is are people like us, people who come from bereavement. I would be happy to see this feeling shared by the entire people of Israel."

Demonstrators at Kerem Shalom (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov)

During Sunday afternoon's rally, a letter written by parents from Shalit's hometown of Mitzpe Hila will be sent to Gazan parents whose sons are imprisoned in Israeli jails.

"We understand you pain as parents whose sons, that which is most precious to them, is being held on our side… we promise, for our part at least, to do as much as we can to try and influence our leadership, in the hopes that you will do the same," write the parents, calling on their Palestinian counterparts to rise above the conflict in the effort to bring the sons home.

Shimshon Liebman, Shalit's neighbor and one of the letter's initiators, said that "we assume there are parents on the other side waiting for their children to be released.

"If they want their children, they should also pressure the authorities there. If they don't do it, we will do all we can in order to disrupt and for the other side to feel it. We decided to hold the protest right next to the fence and not in Jerusalem or the Rabin Square."

Towards the afternoon, a convoy of vehicles, accompanied by some 60 small airplanes, will converge on the spot where Shalit was kidnapped from. Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, is slated to address the crowd. Several Knesset members will also attend the event.