Shalits storm PM's home

Abducted soldier's relatives chain themselves to each other at PM's Residence compound

Omri Efraim|Last update: 06.25.11 , 19:39

Enough talk, time for action: Gilad Shalit's parents, Aviva and Noam, his brother, Yoel, and Yoel's girlfriend, Yaara Winkler, stormed into the Prime Minister's Residence compound in Jerusalem Saturday and chained themselves to each other to protest the IDF soldier's ongoing captivity.

"We've been a family in captivity for five years now," Noam said. "We'll stay here as long as is necessary."

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"Gilad is currently facing much worse conditions in Gaza than we do here and we're protesting," Yoel Shalit said while chained. "We've been in this tent for more than a year and we want our voice to be heard."

"Five years are more than enough for engaging in negotiations and returning Gilad," Aviva Shalit said.

Meanwhile, Shalit's grandfather, Zvi, also adopted a harsher tone, after earlier claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been thwarting a prisoner swap for Gilad. Saturday evening, Zvi Shalit handed out a letter in the family's protest test, warning that "should Netanyahu not allow the deal with Hamas to be finalized, he will lose his legitimacy as head of state."

In a conversation with Ynet, Shalit's grandfather said, "I accuse the prime minister of being responsible for torpedoing the deal to free Gilad," arguing that Netanyahu is stuck in a "closed, hermetic bubble."

Meanwhile, officials at Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office denied Zvi Shalit's earlier comments regarding Barak's endorsement of a prisoner swap.

"As opposed to what has been published, the defense minister does not accept Hamas' position regarding the Shalit deal terms," the statement said. "As Barak said many times in the past, every appropriate move must be undertaken in order to bring about Gilad's release, but not at any price."