Noam Shalit, father of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, said he is encouraged that his son is alive and that "things are moving" to bring his son back home after he met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Tuesday night. The president's office said the meeting is part of his "constant efforts" to help free Shalit, whose family members are French citizens.
The French president recently asked Syrian President Bashar Assad for a sign that Gilad is alive, and Noam Shalit said that the tone of Sarkozy's statements were positive.
He refused to reveal any details. His son was abducted nearly 1,000 days ago by Hamas and Popular Resistance Committees terrorists in a lethal attack on the IDF at a Gaza crossing.
His optimism was tempered by Hamas as well as by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, who has been the Olmert government's chief negotiator with Egypt, which is mediating between Hamas and Israel.
He stated in a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies on Tuesday that even if Israel were to take over the entire Gaza region and close all crossings, "we still could not guarantee getting Gilad Shalit back." Hamas has been demanding that all Gaza crossings be opened and that Israel release more than 1,000 terrorists and prisoners, including those who have murdered Israelis.
The Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign has not influenced negotiations, as far as Hamas is concerned. Hamas official Ayman Taha told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper Tuesday that negotiations will start from where they were before Israel retaliated to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.