Today IDF soldier Gilad Schalit will spend his third birthday in captivity in Gaza. Aged 22, Schalit's parents and Micky Goldwasser whose son Udi was killed in a Hizbullah ambush together with Eldad Regev, their bodies returned to Israel two years later, have accused the government of being preoccupied in internal politics rather than working to set Schalit free.
At a rally on Wednesday friends and soldiers who served with Gilad held a rally at the Sufa crossing outside the Gaza Strip to mark his third birthday in captivity. Goldwasser told reporters "we started out as three families, and my mission here is not over until Gilad Schalit returns home."
Schalit's father Noam, who was not at the event, told army radio that he too believed that political infighting and the primaries were hampering efforts to free his son. "I don't see any effort being made by the prime minister and others to deal with this," he said. Releasing Schalit has not been on their priority list, not even for one day, he said.
He warned that soldiers won't want fight for a nation that does not fight for them. "This government," he said, "is weak and defeated. It worries more about the other side than it does its own citizens," he said.
Schalit's family plans to mark their son's birthday at their home in Mitzpe Hila. 08/28/08
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