Shalits meet with Netanyahu, say 'no reason for optimism'
This will be the third Passover Gilad Shalit spends in Hamas captivity in Gaza. His parents, Noam and Aviva, met with Benjamin Netanyahu this evening for the first time since latter took office
The parents of captive soldier Gilad Shalit met on Tuesday evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first such meeting since the latter took office.
Noam Shalit had little to say after he emerged from Netanyahu's office, saying: "There is no reason for optimism at the moment, though we still hope that things will change. I hope things will start moving."
This will be the third Passover the family marks without their son, who was abducted in a cross-border raid to Gaza in June 2006.
"We didn't say we'd relaunch the fight, we said that we'd consider it and we are still considering it. We can't say any more about what was said at the meeting right now," he added.
Meanwhile some 150 protestors, most of them teenagers, marched through Tel Aviv on Monday, calling on the new Netanyahu government to work towards freeing Shalit.
The protestors carried torches and banners warning that if Israel waits too long for the 'price' demanded in exchange for Shalit to drop, he may not still be alive.
Meanwhile a large group of supporters plan on holding the Passover seder on Wednesday evening outside the prime minister's home in Jerusalem. The event, which will be open to the public, is intended to mark the regrouping and relaunching of the struggle to pressure the government into making a deal for Shalit.
