Shalit: 999 days in captivity
Photo: Noam Rotem
Olmert. To make a decision?
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Egyptian sources: Shalit deal still possible
London-based al-Hayat newspaper reports crucial decision on release of kidnapped soldier to be made before Prime Minister Olmert leaves office
The crucial decision on a deal aimed at securing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release will be made before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
leaves office, the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper reported Friday, quoting Egyptian sources.
They referred to Israel's statement
this week that it was halting its Cairo-mediated talks with Hamas
as 'a maneuver aimed at pressuring Hamas."
The sources noted that Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu would need two more weeks to complete his coalition.
Warning
Israeli sanctions against Palestinian detainees will prompt Hamas to demand more prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, senior group member says; 'Israelis failed and are now attempting to educate Hamas,' he says
A mass demonstration scheduled for Saturday will mark 1,000 days since Shalit's abduction. The captive's parents announced Wednesday that they would be leaving the protest tent they set up in Jerusalem and returning to their home in the northern community of Mitzpe Hila after the rally.
The French ambassador to Israel arrived at the tent on Thursday and gave the family members a personal letter from President Nicolas Sarkozy, in which he vowed to continue working for Shalit's release.
The tent's activists plan to hold a short ceremony on Friday night and change the sign counting the number of days in captivity to 1,000. A group of dozens of youths announced that they plan to continue operating the protest tent with no time limits.
The teenagers, who sent a letter to Olmert last week demanding that he exhausts the efforts for Shalit's release, urged other youths to continue visiting the tent. They said that they have recruited teachers and intellectuals to deliver lectures and lessons at the tent.
Meanwhile, Hamas fears the initiative to worsen the conditions of Palestinian security prisoners jailed in Israel following the deadlock in the talks. "If Israel toughens the prisoner's jailing conditions, Hamas will respond by toughening its conditions in the Shalit deal," a senior group member told Ynet on Wednesday.
He also warned that any such attempt would turn the kidnapped soldier into "a new Ron Arad."
Gilad Shalit was kidnapped into the Gaza Strip 999 days ago.
