Outside prisons in northern and southern Israel, activists battling for the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit held protests this morning. The protest gatherings took place at the Meggido, Hadarim and Shikma prisons, and a demand has been made that no more Palestinian families be allowed to visit their relatives incarcerated in Israeli prisons, until a representative of the International Red Cross is permitted to visit Gilad Shalit and assess his condition. Several activists held signs reading: "Give – Receive, If you don't give – You won't receive".
Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, came to the protest outside the Meggido prison, and said that it is important for the public to make its voice heard, especially this week, when Gilad will be celebrating his fourth birthday in captivity.
A bus load of the relatives of terrorists arrived at the Meggido prison, and the Shalit activists handed them fliers. The letter distributed to the visiting mothers read in Arabic, "You have come to visit your loved ones, and we will not allow you to get off the bus. You are probably wondering who we are, and why we are doing this. We are here in the name of Gilad Shalit, who also wants a visit. Gilad has a birthday on Friday, his fourth birthday in captivity, without a visit from his parents, a representative, or even a neutral official. How would you feel if you were denied visitation? How have Gilad's parents felt for the past three years? Instead of neighborly sentiment there is sadness, hatred, and much anger between our people. But even a prisoner who committed a crime and murdered a child with his own hands receives proper and respectful treatment in prison. And what of Gilad? Not a visit, and barely a letter. We are extracting a demand and a cry through you – Gilad gets a visit now. Don't take what you are getting for granted."
During the course of the protests, several activists attempted to block route 4, at the entrance to the prison, in order to prevent Palestinian family members of Hamas terrorists from entering the compound. The police arrested a number of activists, on grounds of disturbing the peace. The activists demand that a representative of the International Red Cross be permitted to visit Gilad, and claim that the failure of such a visit to take place obligates the Israeli government to withhold the rights of Palestinians to visit their relatives being held in Israel.
On Monday, the Shalit family was invited to the home of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. It is not clear whether Barak had any new information for the Shalits, but close confidants of the family reported that the meeting had been a pleasant one.
The Shalit's neighbor and campaign leader for Gilad's cause, Shimshon Libman, commented that the current government "has a more empathetic and humane attitude", but that the meeting between Barak and Gilad Shalit's parents did not shed any new light on Gilad's condition or the possibility of his release in the near future.
