Shalit family prepares for grim 3-year milestone

Noam Shalit offers sharp criticism of Olmert government's handling of his son's captivity, says he is more confident in Netanyahu's approach. 'It's been three years of not knowing what's happening to your son,' he adds as country marks somber anniversary

Ahiya Raved|Published: 06.21.09 , 00:24

"There is no way to deal with the time. With three years of not knowing what's happening to your son. There's no manual for this, so we just act. We do what we can to push for his release," Noam Shalit told Ynet on Saturday ahead of this week's events marking the three-year anniversary of his son's abduction.

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The grim milestone of Gilad Shalit's captivity is also the anniversary of the deaths of his fellow unit members, Lt. Hanan Barak and Sgt. Pavel Slotzker, who were killed in the cross-border raid by Palestinian terrorists the morning of June 25th 2006.

On Sunday, the day of Lt. Barak's memorial service (memorials are held according to the Hebrew calendar), Defense Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to discuss the efforts to free Shalit. Egypt has been acting as mediator between Israel and Hamas for the soldier's release. Reports say Egypt has been pressing Hamas to hand in a more "flexible" list of prisoners it wants released in exchange for Shalit.

But Noam Shalit says he refuses to speculate about Egypt's plans. He added that while the new Israeli envoy overseeing the efforts, Hagai Hadas - "has started working, we need to remember that he has only been on the job for three weeks. I don't think he has anything concrete to bring to us yet."

Hadas was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the role from Ofer Dekel – who had been appointed by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Speaking candidly, Shalit said that he was far more content with the approach of Netanyahu and his team than that of Olmert and his.

"He (Olmert) used to make these calculations, reminding us that Gilad lived while his friends were killed in battle. He claimed that we don’t mention those who fell, that we were making it so they were forgotten. He would remind us of other kidnappings, where the boys were killed, claiming we were luckier than the others," said Shalit.

Shalit said Olmert and Dekel used to berate the family for things said in the media. "He used to drop hints that what we were saying was bad for Gilad, but (this was said) to cover for the government's incompetence."

A number of events have been scheduled for the coming week. On Tuesday activist organizations now united under the umbrella group 'Gilad's Army,' will head to the border crossings between Israel and Gaza to block the passage of fuels and people.

On Thursday, the anniversary of the kidnapping, a rally will be held opposite the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. Keynote speakers include Noam Shalit, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak.