France has informed the father of captive soldier Gilad Shalit that his son, for the first time, has received a letter written by his family.
The handwritten letter was written some seven weeks ago, and was given by Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy, visiting Syria in early September, gave it to Syrian President Bashar Assad, who apparently did his part by passing it on to the Emir of Qatar, who in turn handed it to Hamas terrorist diplomatic chief Khaled Mashaal. No word was given on how the letter actually reached the Shalit boy in Gaza.
IDF St.-Sgt. Gilad Shalit - who holds joint Israeli and French citizenship - was kidnapped by Hamas-affiliated terrorists in June 2006. The eight attackers crawled through a tunnel under the Gaza border with Israel, killed two Israeli soldiers, and returned through the same tunnel with Shalit in tow.
Noam Shalit, visiting in Paris, expressed restrained happiness at knowing that his son was hearing from his family for the first time in 28 months, but added that he knows that the letter will not bring about his son's release. He asked the French media to use their influence on behalf of his son as they did in the case of an abducted Colombian-French female politician, Ingrid Betancourt, earlier this year.
The only item that Hamas has allowed Gilad to receive from home over the past 28 months is a pair of glasses, sent by his father. Nor has the International Red Cross been permitted to visit him.
Israel recently agreed to a Hamas demand for the release of 450 terrorists being held in Israeli jails in return for return for Shalit's release, but Hamas now demands as many as 1,000. Mediation efforts led by Egypt, with some French participation, are currently stalled.