Noam Shalit leaves for France to meet with Sarkozy advisors
Captured Israeli soldier's father slated to meet with French president's new advisor for Mideast affairs, various media figures. 'We are in regular contact with Élysée Palace'
Noam Shalit, father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who holds French citizenship, will leave Wednesday to France for a round of meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's advisor. Noam Shalit, who is also a French citizenship, is also slated to give interviews with various French media outlets as well as to meet with media representatives in a bid to raise French public awareness to his son's plight.
'We are in regular contact with Élysée Palace. Most of the meetings are unknown and will be held face-to-face,' said Shalit, noting that the first meeting will be for an update. During this meeting, Shalit is expecting to meet with Nicolas Ganet, Sarkozy's new advisor for Mideast and North African affairs. At this stage, it remains unclear if the French president's senior diplomatic advisor will also attend the meeting.
The broadcast of the videotape of Gilad Shalit over the weekend in particular and the Shalit affair in general have piqued significant interest in France and receive intensive coverage in French media. French state television dedicated a 15-minute news item to the videotape and Gilad's captivity.
Sarkozy called following videotape airing
President Sarkozy himself telephoned the Shalit family in Mitzpe Hila last Friday after the videotape of their son aired on news stations to speak with Noam and his wife Aviva. He promised that he would continue to take tireless action to secure the release of Gilad. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also called for the captive Israeli soldier's immediate release following the release of the videotape.
Hamas sources reported Monday that talks for formulating a prisoner swap with Israel are continuing and that the gap between their two positions is smaller than ever even though some disagreement still remains. Reportedly, the remaining disagreements are surrounding a few names that Hamas wants Israel to include on the list of prisoners to be released.
London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Sunday that a dispute over the release of 48 Arab-Israeli and east Jerusalem residents is holding up the deal. According to the report, Israel has agreed to release all the West Bank and Gaza residents demanded by Hamas.
An Israeli source reported to the paper that Israel knows where Gilad Shalit is being held by Hamas, but has decided against military action to rescue him by force out of fear that he would be hurt as a result.
