It’s been over three years since an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was bundled across the border in a cross-border raid by Hamas and other militant groups. For all practical purposes it was as if the earth swallowed him up into the darkness of an underground Gaza cell. There had been no photos, no Red Cross visits and no signs of life except for two letters heavily dictated by his captors. But today, in the care of German mediators, a two-minute forty second video tape arrived in Jerusalem showing him looking healthy and lucid.
He read a brief statement with an uncontainable smile on his face.
In exchange for the video, Israel agreed to release twenty Palestinian women prisoners. The exchange could signal the beginning of a larger prisoner swap in which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, who are currently in Israeli jails, would be swapped for Shalit.
Israelis, who like to think of themselves as part of one big family at times like this, were deeply anxious to see the video.
Shalit came alive again on their television screens. Wearing pressed dark green army fatigues, he sat on a white plastic chair and read from the written statement while holding the September 14 issue of a Palestinian newspaper.
“I read the paper in order to find information about myself and hope to find information of some kind that will tell me of my release and my return home soon. I have been hoping and waiting for a long time now, for the day I’ll be released,” he said. “I hope that the present government under Benjamin Netanyahu will not now miss the opportunity to close the deal and that, as a result, I shall be able to realize my dream at last - and be set free. I want to send my regards to my family and tell them that I love them and miss them very much and wish for the day that I see them again.”
As his voice slightly trembled, he said that he was being treated “excellently” by the military wing of Hamas.
Shalit and his quiet, mild-mannered family have become the stand-in for every Jewish-Israeli family in a country where all Jewish citizens face mandatory army service. It was Gilad Shalit who was captured on that June night in 2006, but for Israelis who are ever cognizant of their national vulnerability (some would argue obsessed by it), they know this could have easily been their son or daughter.
Much copy has been written since Shalit’s capture speculating on his state of mind and his physical well-being. His family and friends described Shalit as a shy, introverted young man (who recently celebrated his 23rd birthday in captivity), and Israelis have now received their first small glimpse at him in captivity.
The prisoner issue is one that hits home for Palestinians, too. Many Palestinians have, or had in the past, a relative in an Israeli prison. A prisoner swap, which would most likely include the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, would be considered a major victory. For Israelis, the price tag of such a deal which would see prisoners convicted of planning or carrying out deadly attacks against scores of Israelis spurs debate. Some argue that such deals only encourage further kidnappings. And indeed, shortly after the tape was released, Hamas vowed to capture more Israeli soldiers in the future.
Israeli television stations interrupted their usual Friday afternoon broadcasts to play and replay the video tape of Shalit, and a tight knot of friends, supporters and media surrounded the Shalit’s home in a small village near the Lebanon border.
As the radio plays John Lennon’s “Imagine” and other bittersweet songs, Palestinians and Israelis wait to see what will happen next.
More on these topics:
