World Jewish News

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L) with Noam Shalit, father of Gilad Shalit, in Jerusalem on Monday.

EU foreign affairs chief meets parents of Gilad Shalit, vows to continue to demand the release of their son

The European Union's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton met on Monday with the parents of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, telling them she would continue to demand the release of their son.
Ashton's meeting came a day after she visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where Gilad Shalit has been held by Hamas since his capture in June 2006 in a deadly cross-border raid.
"The message that I wanted to give them is very clear. In everything that we do, in all the statements that I have made, in all of my meetings, the issue of Gilad Shalit's release is part of what we are demanding," Ashton said in a statement after the meeting.
During her visit to the Palestinian coastal strip she did not meet with Hamas officials as the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.
“I did not meet with Hamas. I do not meet Hamas. I made the point in the press conferences: the European Union does not meet with Hamas. I think that it is very, very important nonetheless that we are very clear about the importance of the release of Gilad Shalit,” she said Sunday at a press conference with Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
“I recognize, as I have said already, the trauma for his family and will meet with his family tomorrow; I have already met with his father in Europe, and I want it to be well known and understood in Israel how much significance we put on this,” she said.
"Gilad must be released without delay and the Red Cross representatives must now be allowed to visit him," she also said.
Shalit also holds French citizenship.
Noam Shalit, the soldier's father, told reporters after the meeting he had asked Ashton that the EU "should demand progress in negotiations for Gilad's release before requesting humanitarian gestures in Gaza."
Ashton has repeatedly called for the further easing of Israel's four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip and said she believed that would also help hasten Shalit's release.
"What we are doing in trying to support ordinary people in Gaza is in essence to try and help that process," she said.
The Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, wants hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, including scores of top militants responsible for deadly attacks.
The talks collapsed late last year.

EJP