According to various news reports, including the Arab media, a prisoner release deal resulting in the release of Gilad Shalit is imminent. Iman Taha, an official Hamas spokesman in Gaza on Tuesday confirmed the reports according to Reuters, a change from last week’s denials. The PA’s Maan agency reported four senior Hamas officials traveled to Cairo for Shalit-related talks. The PA’s al-Manar newspaper reports “ongoing intensive talks” to reach a deal between Hamas and Israel, hoping to “reach an agreement by the holidays”.
According to Haaretz, Hamas is showing a bit of flexibility, perhaps leading to the optimism. Hamas is also interested in closing a deal towards bringing its prisoners home, seeking to raise its standing among residents of PA areas.
Al-Manar states a German mediator has been meeting with Hamas officials, and the main point of dispute surrounds where the released terrorists banished to exile will be sent. The report stated Germany is working to persuade countries to accept some of the released terrorists, at least for limited periods of time.
Back at home, Noam and Aviva Shalit have heard similar reports in the past and they are trying to remain calm, not to permit themselves to become too optimistic while hoping for the best.
On Tuesday, former US President Jimmy Carter led a delegation to meet in Jerusalem with HaRav Ovadia Yosef Shlita. The Rav called on Carter to use his influence towards arranging Shalit’s release.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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3 Responses
Gilad Ben Aviva
daven for him no matter what ur politics are
URGENT!!! Please keep saying Tehillim for all the missing Israeli soldiers
Staff Sgt. Zecharya Shlomo Ben Sarah Baumel (learned in Yeshivat Etz Chaim in Boro Park, before his family made aliya)( was a Hesder yeshiva soldier), and Staff Sgt. Zvi Ben Penina Feldman, and Sgt. Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman Ben Sarah Katz, (Was a Hesder yeshiva soldier) these 3 are missing since June 11, 82 in a battle at Sultan Yakoub, in Lebanon.
Major Ron Ben Batya Arad, who was captured on October 16, 86, after his aircraft was shot down near Sidon, Lebanon. Arad was initially held ALIVE by Amal (a Shi’ite terrorist organization); however his subsequent fate is still unknown.
Guy Ben Rina Hever, last seen at his army base on the southern Golan Heights on August 17, 97.
Cpl. Gilad Ben Aviva Shalit was abducted by terrorists on June 25, 06 in the course of an infiltration and attack by terrorists in the area of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, He is believed to be ALIVE.
Majdy Halabi, last seen at a hitchhiking stop in Dalyat El Karmel on May 24, 05.
If they are Alive then they probably need a refuah shleima and if they are not Chas Veshalom, then they need a proper kevurah, and there families need closure.
The Battle of Sultan Yakoub
On June 11, 1982, five Israeli soldiers went missing in a battle with Syrian and Palestinian forces near the Lebanese village of Sultan Yaqub. Several hours after the battle, Dean Brelis, a reporter for Time Magazine, reported that “something interesting could
be seen in Damascus” – three Israeli soldiers were being publicly paraded in a procession of captured tanks through the streets of Damascus. “The Israeli crew looked exhausted, downcast, typically combat fatigued. When the crowd surged around them, taunting, they looked frightened… It was a public parade, as it were right through the center of Damascus, and once it passed I never saw the tank or the Israelis again.”(Dean Brelis quoted in a letter by John F. Scott, First Secretary, U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, June 16, 1983) Correspondents from AP, La Stampa and the Syrian media confirmed the report.
Several years later, two of the captured soldiers were returned to Israel in prisoner exchanges with Syria and Achmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command). Three soldiers – Zachary Baumel (born Nov 17, 1960), Yehuda Katz (born Dec 29, 1956), and Zvi Feldman (born July 18, 1959) – are still missing.
Since the battle, there have been many conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts and condition of the missing men. Over the years, Palestinian and Syrian officials have made many references to information in their possession regarding the MIAs, but have been unwilling to cooperate in efforts to return the missing soldiers to their families. So, despite Israel’s best efforts, Yehuda Katz and Tzvi Feldman, the children of Holocaust survivors, and Zachary Baumel, remain unaccounted for despite ongoing reports (including the 1988 Amnesty International Report and the 1993 Amnesty International December Update) indicating that some of the missing soldiers are still alive and are being held under Syrian control.
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Ron Arad
On October 16, 1986, Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad was taken captive after his F-4 Phantom warplane went down over Lebanon. Both Arad and the pilot parachuted safely to the ground. The pilot was flown to safety under fire, holding on to the bottom of an Israeli helicopter in a rescue operation. Ron was taken captive by Amal, a Lebanese Shi’ite militia group lead by Nabih Berri.
In 1987, Arad’s family received several letters and a photo of Arad confirming that he was alive and in Amal’s hands. Ron Arad was personally held by the then head of security of Amal, Mustafa Dirani. In early 1988, Dirani severed his ties with Amal due to ideological differences and formed a new group, called the “Resistance of the Believers.” Arad was held captive by Dirani’s group until the beginning of 1989, when he was apparently handed over to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in exchange for a large sum of money. Sources in Israel believe that Captain Ron Arad is still being held by this group.
Ron Arad was born in Israel on May 5, 1958. Ron and his wife Tami have a daughter, Yuval. Before his capture, Ron was a student of chemical engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, entering his second year of studies.
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On August 17, 1997, Guy Hever (born May 30, 1977), a soldier in the Israeli army, was last seen on the southern Golan Heights at the Katzabiya junction just one kilometer from the Syrian border. He was dressed in army fatigues and was carrying his weapon, key chain and international military identification papers. The area was searched thoroughly but no trace of him was found.
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On June 25, 2006 in the course of an infiltration and attack by terrorists in the area of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, near the Gaza Strip, an IDF officer and a soldier were killed, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 20, of Hila was abducted, and four others were wounded. Since then, Gilad has been held by the Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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On May 24, 2005 Majdy Halabi, a Druze soldier from the village of Dalyat El Karmel was last seen around 17:00 in the afternoon. He was carrying a bag on his back, and was standing at a hitchhiking stop near the Hapoalim bank branch in his village, trying to return to an ordnance corps camp near the town of Tirat Ha-Carmel, south of Haifa, where he served.
Majdy was 19 years old when he disappeared. On June 6, 2005, Majdy was declared an IDF missing soldier.