State prosecutors contended on Sunday that the High Court of Justice did not have the authority to order the government to refrain from implementing a ceasefire agreement negotiated last week with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The claim came in response to a desperate, last-ditch effort by the parents of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit to force the government to keep the Gaza crossings closed until the Hamas terrorists who kidnapped their son two years ago, agree to set him free.
Noam and Aviva Shalit filed their petition on Saturday afternoon, claiming the cabinet's agreement to the temporary truce brokered by Egyptian mediators was an abrogation of prior promises made to the family by the government and other heads of state from abroad.
In its response, however, the State said, "This is a political-security arrangement as a result of the cabinet's decision regarding a political-security issue." Regarding the issue of the soldier's captivity, the prosecutors responded, "The State is continually working to bring about Gilad's release and considers this a national task of the highest order."
The government is scheduled to begin "intense" negotiations for Shalit's release this week, according to the State Prosecutor's Office, as is Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is slated to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
"These negotiations would not be launched if it weren't for the truce agreement," the State Prosecutor told the High Court. "The honorable Court should not have the authority to order the State to breach existing diplomatic agreements with a foreign entity."
Elder Shalit Begs for Gilad's Life
Noam Shalit, after two years of appealing to Islamic religious ethics, Arab mercy, international heads of state and every Israeli politician it was possible to meet with, threw his son's life on the mercy of the Court.
"I beg you to save my son; this is a one-time opportunity to save Gilad by forcing Hamas to sit at the negotiation table from a position of power. We fear Israel will lose its bargaining chips in the affair. Hamas has said that as far as it is concerned Gilad can remain in captivity for another 10 years.
The wife of missing Air Force navigator Ron Arad Tami Arad also joined in the Shalits' petition to the Court.
"Unfortunately, the Ron Arad case occurred in the past and Israel postponed its actions and he disappeared. We fear that this situation will repeat itself. In our eyes, the Court is the last resort in saving Gilad, who has been held by Hamas in a dark, gloomy basement for the past two years."