More than 4 years have passed since
Izzaddin al-Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas captured Gilad Shalit during
a cross-border raid in June 2006. Shalit, a 19 year old Israeli
conscript then, is believed to be held in a secret location in Gaza
Strip. Last August, the British Foreign Office issued a statement saying
Shalit’s detention is unjustifiable and unacceptable, and demanded his
immediate and unconditional release.
Governments around the world are so
worried about just one IDF (Israeli Defence Force) soldier being held
under captivity while ignoring thousands of innocent Palestinian
children who languish in Israeli jails. Should there be much to worry
about just one soldier of a war mongering state being taken captive by
the people they have oppressed for 62 years? Like the mother of Gilad
Shalit, the parents of those children too are spending sleepless nights
not knowing the fate of their beloved sons or daughters.
A year after the capture of Gilad
Shalit, Hamas released an emotional audio of him in which he called on
his parents and the Israeli government to secure his release from the
hands of Hamas. Shalit said in the audio, “I am the soldier Gilad, son
of Noam Shalit, prisoner of Ctahb Alshahid Izzaddin al-Qassam. Mom and
Dad, my sister and my brother, my friends in IDF, I’m sending you from
inside the prison my warm regards and longing for all of you. I’ve been
through an entire year inside the prison and still my health condition
is getting worse and I need extended medical treatment. I’m sorry for
the lack of interest of the Israeli Government and IDF to my situation
and their lack of compliance to the demands of al-Qassam. It is obvious
they have to comply to these demands so that I can be released from the
prison and specially because I was in a military operation, caused by
military instruction and wasn’t a drug dealer and like I have parents,
mother and father, the thousands of Palestinian detainees also have
mothers and fathers whose sons must be returned to them. I have a big
hope that my government will be interested in me and comply with the
demands of al-mujahedin. Corporal Gilad Shalit.”
On 28 August, corresponding to Shalit’s
birthday his family put up a protest tent not far from Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem. Gilad Shalit’s mother, Aviva
Shalit wrote to the wives of Ministers and the members of Knesset
requesting to put pressure on Israeli Government to secure the release
of her son. She said she has spent long difficult nights after Shalit
was taken captive by Hamas. Aviva wrote to them, “Not to see, not to
hug, not to hear, not to smell – to live in a big painful emptiness in
our home in Mitzpe Hila, without holidays or special days. I ask you
humbly, as a mother, sister, wife, human being – help me bring my son
home."
What Shalit’s mother does not realise is
that Israel has turned Hamas controlled Gaza into a virtual prison and
1.5 million people still remain deprived of their basic necessities. In
the winter of 2008-2009, Israel carried out an onslaught on Gaza which
killed almost 1500 Palestinian civilians, among them many innocent women
and children. All this was to put pressure on Hamas (Islamic Resistance
Movement) to release Gilad Shalit and force them to submit themselves
to Israel. So far, Israel has used all its military might to secure the
release of Shalit but not all its means. Hamas regards Shalit as a
significant bargaining chip to release one thousand Palestinians
imprisoned by Israel. Israeli authorities are reluctant to accept that
one IDF soldier is worth a thousand Palestinians they consider as
terrorists.
Hamas has produced several motion
picture cartoons as a warning to Zionists about the dire consequences if
Israel continues to refuse their demands. In one 3D animation, Gilad
Shalit’s father walks on the streets of Israel and continually hears the
promises of successive Israeli governments’ to secure the release of
his son. After years he becomes old and weary and finally receives his
son’s body in a coffin but he suddenly wakes up to find it was only a
nightmare. The animation ends saying there is still hope.
___________________________________________________Written by: Ibrahim Nazim
22 October 2010, Friday
14 Zulqaida 1431
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