There’s no telling when the letter was written, at least, not according to anything in the news, but Gilad Shalit’s parents did receive another letter from him.
The parents of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was taken prisoner by Hamas over 20 months ago, have received another letter from their son, Monday.
[…] Shalit’s father, Noam, confirmed that a letter was in fact relayed through the Born To Freedom Foundation: “The family had received a letter today via the secretary-general of the Carter Center.
“There are many signs indicating that the letter is authentic. It conveys a message from Gilad – he is pleading, begging us to do everything we can to see that he is released form captivity.”
The article goes on to say that some are interpreting this as a sign Hamas believes the IDF means business when it talks about coming into Gaza in force.
A senior source in Jerusalem said Monday the new letter should be taken as a messaged form Hamas, which seems to be concerned that its refusal to release Shalit as part of the tahadiya – the temporary calm Egypt is trying to broker between Israel and Hamas; and the ongoing rocket fire on the western Negev will prompt a so-far pending Israeli decision to launch a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip.
The timing, said Jerusalem, is far from coincidental: “The letter has surfaced just before the security cabinet’s discussion on any future Gaza operation. The letter surfaced just as Olmert, (Defense Minister Ehud) Barak and (Foreign Minister Tzipi) Livni have reiterated Israel’s prerequisite demand that Gilad be released.”
Hamas sources refused to confirm the reports of the new letter, but told Ynet that should that be true, the timing was closely linked to the ceasefire talks and to the Palestinian assessments that any Israeli attempt exacerbate the situation in the Strip may harm a future Shalit deal.
Relaying a letter, said the source, was nothing more than a humanitarian gesture, and not indicative of any progress made in Shalit’s case.
Okay, I have a suggestion. Go ahead with the “calm” after all, but only if Shalit is released. Don’t release prisoners with blood on their hands for him. And then, after you have Shalit back, wait until the first kassam heads into southern Israel, or the first terrorist plants another bomb, or does what terrorists do. Declare the truce violated, and head into Gaza in force to take out Hamas. It’s win-win if you ask me.
That’s assuming Shalit is still alive. We have no real proof yet.
Guy Bechor said this morning on TV that the army will check when the letter was written – I don’t know exactly how but somehow they will check it.
The information conveyed in it seems unreliable. Like in the audio tape before, Gilad complains of bad health but our dear friend Chaled Mashaal told our even better friend Jimmy Carter that he is fine. ???
Guy Bechor also said: the Hamas is interested in calm now, and we shouldn’t give it to them. He said the situation at the moment is a poker game between Israel and Egypt. The one who blinks first will have to deal with Gaza.
Let’s hope it won’t be us.
What the Shalits are going through, I’m scared to imagine. All in all, there is no real progress. I’m afraid they’ll make a deal without Gilad.
If the government should do that, I foresee that we will see an visible drop in army motivation and a complete erosion of trust in state and army. It would be absolutely horrible.