A year and four months of going home empty-handed, the Shalit family has returned to the protest tent outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that he will not have the soldier freed under the conditions set by Hamas, but upon his return from the United State, he and his wife Sara plan to meet with the captive soldier’s parents.

The headquarters of the campaign for Shalit’s release said Netanyahu’s aides phoned the soldier’s father from the plane as it took off from New York on Thursday, and told him the prime minister is interested in meeting with him before returning to his home in Caesarea. The meeting has been scheduled for 4:30 pm Friday at the prime minister’s residence.

On Friday, at the end of the massive march from the family’s home in Mitzpe Hila, the number of days Gilad Shalit has been held in Hamas captivity stood at 1,475. The soldier’s relatives, who have vowed not to leave the site without him, are awaiting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s return from the United States, but are not overly optimistic.

When the soldier’s father, Noam Shalit was asked if he felt a sense of déjà vu, he said, “Something like that, it’s not exactly the same thing, but a similar feeling.”

Asked if he expects ministers and public figures to pay a visit to the protest tent this time, he said, “I don’t need symbols and convoys, I just needs acts that yield results. Action has been taken in the past, but without results.”

On the possibility of a meeting with the prime minister Noam Shalit said, “I am interested in meeting with whomever necessary, if and when there are new things and developments, I would like to hear about them. At the moment I don’t know of anything new that has happened.”

He said his family plans to stay a long time in Jerusalem. “I think the public’s support and march behind us speaks for itself, this is not something routine. I believe such a civilian protest sets a precedent. There have been protests that lasted two or three days in the past, but here, for 12 days straight, we witnessed a determined demonstration that did not die down even for a minute. Here we are static, and we will see how things go.”

(Source: Ynet News)