Gilad Shalit
Gilad Schalit (born August 28, 1986 in Nahariya , Israel ; Hebrew גלעד שליט) is a former Israeli soldier with the rank of Sergeant Major ( Rav-Samal ) from Mitzpe Hila in Western Galilee . He was kidnapped on June 25, 2006 by Hamas militants in Israel and then taken across the demarcation line to an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip , where he spent over five years until he was released on October 18, 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange.
After the incident became known, a few days later Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip with a military offensive. In October 2006, the Palestinian People's Resistance Committee confirmed that Shalit was alive and harmed.
On January 17, 2007, one of the three groups involved in the capture, Jaish al-Islam , led by Mumtaz Dormush , declared that Shalit was being held by Hamas alone . On June 25, 2007, the first anniversary of the capture, Hamas distributed an audio recording with a message spoken by Shalit. A visit to Schalit by representatives of the ICRC was always refused by Hamas.
The capture and arrest of Shalit has been condemned internationally, with numerous governments and human rights groups demanding his release. In Israel, the fate of Schalit was a constant social and media issue. Large rallies took place on the anniversaries of the capture, at which thousands recently protested against the Netanyahu government.
In 2011, the Israeli government and Hamas agreed on a prisoner exchange, which allowed Shalit to return to Israel on October 18 of that year. In return, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released. (477 on October 18 and 550 on December 18, 2011) You were responsible for the deaths of about 200 people. One of the main behind the capture, the Palestinian Zuher al Kesi, was killed in March 2012 in a targeted action by the Israeli air force. Another person responsible, Ahmed al-Jabari , was killed by an Israeli missile in November 2012.
Career
The Israeli Gilad Schalit also has French citizenship through his French grandmother on his father's side . He has an older brother and a younger sister. Shortly after graduating from high school with a focus on natural science subjects, he began his basic military service almost a year before his capture and was then transferred to a tank unit.
Capture and ultimatum
In the early morning of June 25, 2006 broke militant guerrillas by a self-dug tunnel near Kerem Shalom on Israeli territory before and attacked a sentry stationed there. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and four others injured in the incident . Shalit himself suffered a shoulder injury in the battle and broke his left hand and right index finger. On October 18, 2012, one year after Shalit's release, Hamas released a 45-minute film of interviews with the kidnappers in which details were disclosed. Seven Hamas members were chosen by lottery for the operation and specially trained to kidnap a live Israeli soldier.
One day later, the Qassam Brigades , the People's Resistance Committee and the previously unknown group of Jaish al-Islam admitted to the action . The announcement called for the release of all female and minor Palestinian detainees detained in Israel in exchange for information about the fate of Shalit.
After the start of the Israeli military operation, on July 1 the militants expanded their demands to include the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons and the termination of Operation Summer Rain , which began on June 28 . Two days later, an ultimatum of 24 hours was issued, with unspecified consequences threatened if Israel refused the demands. Israel rejected the ultimatum, stating that there would be "no negotiations to release the prisoners" .
In October 2008, the Maariv newspaper reported that the Israeli army had intelligence information on a planned operation before Shalit was captured and that the two brothers Mustafa and Osama Muammar were arrested near Rafah and brought to Israel on the night of June 23, 2006 would have. According to the article, Mustafa was interrogated by domestic intelligence the following night that a kidnapping was planned. Even so, the army had not been warned. The next day - already after his capture and using "extraordinary interrogation methods" - he then disclosed all the details, although he was not told that the action had already taken place. If everything had happened 24 hours earlier, the arrest could have been prevented, especially since the arrest of the brothers had been postponed exactly 24 hours.
Liberation attempts
On June 28, 2006, Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip near Chan Yunis to search for Gilad Shalit. A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC said: "Israel has done all it can, using all diplomatic opportunities and giving Mahmoud Abbas the opportunity to return the kidnapped Israeli ... The operation can be ended immediately, subject to their release by Gilad Schalit. "
A day later, Brigadier General Miri Regev announced that the IDF "is not convinced that he is being held in South Gaza ... [only] that he is being held in Gaza" . Regev responded to a report by the Israel Broadcasting Authority that Shalit was being held in Rafah .
The BBC reported on July 1, 2006, citing Palestinian sources that Shalit had received medical treatment, but the Palestinians denied this. Israeli authorities threatened that "the sky will collapse" should Shalit suffer.
The Israeli army subsequently carried out repeated military actions in the Gaza Strip to free Shalit, but was unable to achieve this goal. During Operation Autumn Clouds , which was concentrated in the town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian side indirectly accused Israel of endangering Shalit's life through military action. The People's Resistance Committee then relativized this statement to the effect that the Israeli bombs and mortar shells could hit the whereabouts of Shalit.
On September 7, 2007, Israeli special forces disguised as Palestinian police seized the Palestinian Mahawash al-Qadi in his car near Rafah and took him to Israel. He confessed to having been involved in the procurement of the land for the tunnel used in the operation, but could not name Schalit's whereabouts. Hamas moved Shalit to another location immediately after the incident and looked for possible collaborators. Al-Qadi was convicted of his involvement in the Be'er Sheva District Court and was later released in the course of the prisoner exchange. The circumstances of the arrest could only be made public in Israel in December 2011 due to a blackout, and the Palestinian press reported extensively on the incident.
diplomacy
An attempt by the Apostolic Nuncio in Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco , to negotiate the release of Shalit immediately after his capture failed.
Israel initially rejected negotiations with the Hamas-led Palestinian government over a prisoner exchange. However, after the end of the Lebanon War in 2006 and the disputes between Fatah and Hamas over the formation of a government of national unity , the deadlock began to move. Using Egypt as a mediator, Israel negotiated indirectly with the Palestinians.
Israel insisted that Shalit first had to be released before Israel released the Palestinian prisoners after a certain time lag. On October 26, 2006 it was reported that Hamas leader Khalid Mashal was preparing to travel to Cairo for negotiations. The week before, the Israeli Minister for Infrastructure, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer , had been in Cairo and had given approval for the framework conditions drawn up by Egypt, but without going into details.
The Popular Resistance Committee announced on October 28th that all three organizations involved in the capture agreed with the Egyptian mediators' proposal regarding the release of Shalit and the Palestinian detainees.
In an interview with the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat , which appears in Beirut , Ismail Haniya admitted at the end of January 2007 that the negotiations on the prisoner exchange with Israel were "complex and difficult" . A spokesman for the People's Resistance Committee put the blame on Israel, which did not accept the Egyptian compromise proposal.
At the end of June 2009, Egyptian diplomats in negotiations with Hamas are said to have achieved that Shalit should be brought across the border to Egypt and handed over to the secret service, in whose care the soldier would have remained until a prisoner exchange was concluded. This step should have enabled Schalit's family to visit there. The early release of the Palestinian parliamentary speaker Abd al-Aziz Duwaik (Hamas), who was imprisoned in Israel, on June 23, 2009 is said to have been related to this. Corresponding reports, citing diplomatic sources, were confirmed by the Palestinian side, but not commented on by Israel.
At the mediation of German and Egyptian diplomats, Hamas handed over a video with a sign of life from Shalit to the Israeli authorities on September 30, 2009. In return, 19 Palestinian women were released from Israeli custody two days later. The video was recorded in September 2009 and shows Schalit in good physical shape.
In late November 2009, a proposal was drawn up that 450 Palestinians should be released from Israel first before Shalit would be brought to Egypt. After that, 700 more prisoners were to be released, after which Shalit would be brought to Israel. Marwan Barghouti , who has been sentenced to five life imprisonment, is believed to be among those released . The German Federal Intelligence Service and the Egyptian government were also involved in the negotiations .
However, the proposal was rejected by the Israeli government in early 2010. Negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas only resumed at the end of 2010 after Schalit's parents increased the pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu with protest actions.
At the United Nations , Noam Schalit worked to ensure that the fate of his son is included in talks about the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to this end he met with numerous UN ambassadors in New York in September 2011.
On October 11, 2011, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israeli government had reached an agreement with Hamas on an exchange of prisoners. According to Hamas, 1,000 male and 27 female prisoners were to be released in two steps. At the same time, Schalit was first brought to Egypt and then handed over to the Israelis. Initially, 477 detainees were released, including 279 people sentenced to life imprisonment and all 27 Palestinian women detained in Israel for “security violations”. Of those released, 96 people were allowed to return to the West Bank, 14 to East Jerusalem, six other Israeli Arabs to their previous place of residence in Israel and 131 Palestinians to their place of residence in the Gaza Strip. 203 former residents of the West Bank were deported, 40 of them abroad and 163 to the Gaza Strip. A total of 165 of them are allowed to return to the West Bank after 10 to 25 years. Among those released was a Syrian who returned to his home village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on October 19, 2011 . In a second step, on December 18, 2011, another 550 prisoners were released.
The total of 1,027 prisoners released are responsible for the deaths of around 200 Israelis, among other things. Among them were Assis Salha - he lynched an Israeli soldier in October 2000 - and the 31-year-old journalist Ahlam Tamimi. On August 9, 2001, she drove the suicide bomber Issadin Suheil al-Masri to Jerusalem, where he killed 15 people and injured 130 in the “Sbarro” pizzeria.
Among those released were not the “big heads” that Hamas always called for, like Marwan Barghouti. Israel's refusal to release these people was allegedly the cause of the year-long failure. The reason for this may have been the weakening of the position of Hamas and the fact that only became known after the deal that two of the most important Hamas prisoners were placed in solitary confinement in June 2011 so that they could no longer intervene in the negotiations.
Solidarity movement
Schalit's fate and the length of his imprisonment aroused great sympathy internationally. Solidarity rallies and commemorative marches took place again and again. In 2008, over 3,000 people demonstrated on the border with the Gaza Strip in Israel for Shalit's release. On the occasion of the fourth anniversary of his kidnapping, over 10,000 people demonstrated in Paris for his release. Schalit received honorary citizenship from Paris in 2008 and from Rome in 2009 , as well as from various cities in the USA.
A two-week protest march began in Israel on June 27, 2010, calling on the Israeli government to re-negotiate with Hamas. At the start of the 300-kilometer march, around 7500 people joined Schalit's parents. Schalit's father, Noam Schalit, is committed to promoting understanding between Israelis and Palestinians on behalf of his son. He reads a fable written by his son in elementary schools. The fable "The Shark and the Fish" is a variant of the book "When the snake and the mouse met for the first time" by Shelly Elkayam and tells the story of a small fish and a shark who, despite the rejection of their surroundings, decide not to be enemies anymore. Gilad Shalit wrote this story as a schoolwork at the age of eleven. It has now been translated into numerous languages, available in print and is also distributed by the Israeli embassy. Donations were collected in various synagogues in Israel to support Shalit.
release
On October 18, 2011, Shalit was initially handed over to Egypt by Hamas. There he had to give an interview to the Egyptian state television. He was then flown to the Tel Nof military airfield in Israel.
Shalit was the first Israeli soldier in 26 years to be released alive from Palestinian captivity. In January and November 2017, Hamas released previously unknown video footage showing Shalit while he was in custody in the Gaza Strip.
Life since release
In April 2012, he left the IDF and started working as a sports journalist for the Jedi'ot Acharonot newspaper . An announced visit to the FC Barcelona stadium in 2012 led to protests by Palestinian fans and a call to boycott Hamas.
When he first appeared on Israeli television in October 2012, he revealed only a few details about his employment in captivity. During the entire time he did not see the sun, but was allowed to watch TV and listen to the radio.
In 2013, Schalit began studying economics. In 2016 he passed the recruitment test at an Israeli bank with success and received an employment contract.
The Israeli public has continued to take an interest in his life since his release: In November 2017, for example, the media reported on Schalit's separation from his partner, with whom he had shared the previous four years.
Web links
- Arik Diamant, Look Who Has Been Captured! ("Arab News", July 22, 2006)
- BBC news : Text of a statement that Schalit made on tape. June 25, 2007, English
- Interview with Gilad Schalit on Egyptian state television , October 18, 2011 (English)
supporting documents
- ↑ BBC News : "Israeli forces enter north Gaza". June 29, 2006
- ↑ Ynetnews : "PRC: No plan to kill Gilad Shalit". November 5, 2006
- ^ Haaretz : "Official: Abbas and Meshal to meet Saturday in Damascus". January 18, 2007
- ^ Haaretz: "Hamas airs 'first Shalit message'". June 25, 2007
- ↑ n-tv : "Israel and Hamas: Armistice absurd". December 18, 2008
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/soldat-gilad-schalit-hamas-kuendigt-freilendung-an-11490091.html , October 11, 2011.
- ^ Second stage of Shalit swap complete as 550 Palestinian prisoners released. Ha-Aretz on December 18, 2011
- ↑ Israeli military kills Gilad Shalit's kidnappers. Hamburger Abendblatt on March 10, 2012
- ↑ Ahmed al-Jabari: The End of the Hamas General.
- ↑ Portrait: Gilad Shalit. In: Wiener Zeitung of June 30, 2006, accessed on August 4, 2014
- ^ Gilad Shalit, un otage franco-israélien. In: La Croix of October 12, 2011, accessed on August 4, 2014 (French)
- ^ Dpa via Yahoo News : "The kidnapped corporal Gilad Schalit". ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 28, 2006
- ↑ Jerusalem Post: "Shalit's health better than first feared" ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 29, 2006
- ↑ Hamas releases film recounting details of Gilad Shalit kidnapping. Haaretz, October 18, 2012
- ↑ CNN : “Militants issue Israel hostage demands” ( Memento of August 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), June 26, 2006
- ↑ Reuters : "FACTBOX-The crisis over Israel's captured soldier". July 2, 2006
- ↑ Reuters: "Palestinian militants issue ultimatum to Israel". July 3, 2006
- ↑ Haaretz: “Minister Ramon: IDF operations in Gaza will be 'far far worse' if Shalit harmed”. July 3, 2006, archived from the original on January 19, 2014 ; Retrieved July 3, 2006 .
- ↑ Haaretz ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : "The 24 hours that could have saved Gilad Shalit". October 12, 2008
- ↑ Bloomberg : "Israeli Army Enters Gaza to Find Kidnapped Soldier (update 2)". June 28, 2006
- ^ Israel Broadcasting Authority, "Today in the News." June 29, 2006
- ↑ BBC News: "Israel soldier medic claim denied". July 1, 2006
- ↑ Times of Oman : "Israel: 'Sky will fall' if soldier is harmed". July 5, 2006
- ↑ Haaretz: "Shalit's father says he hopes Gaza raid will come to swift end" ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 5, 2006
- ↑ Israel publicizes 2007 arrest of alleged Shalit kidnapping accomplice. Ha-Aretz on December 14, 2011
- ↑ Jerusalem Post: "Pope's rep tried for Shalit's release". ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 19, 2006
- ↑ Reuters: "Progress on Israel-Palestinian prisoner swap: Hamas" ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 26, 2006
- ↑ Al-Jazeera : “Shalit captivity 'to end in days'” ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 31, 2006
- ↑ Jerusalem Post: Haniyeh: Shalit deal needs lots of work. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 27, 2007
- ↑ Avi Issacharoff, Akiva Eldar and Associated Press: Shalit transfer to Egypt is imminent (English) , Haaretz . June 25, 2009. Archived from the original on January 10, 2010 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ↑ Tagesschau : Israel receives signs of life from Gilat Schalit ( memento of October 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from October 2, 2009 (accessed on October 2, 2009).
- ↑ Report: Israel wants to release Barghouti in Shalit deal ( Memento of the original from November 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Der Standard : BND submits proposal for the release of Schalit. August 29, 2009.
- ↑ Der Spiegel : BND mediation between Hamas and Israel failed. February 27, 2010.
- ↑ Der Spiegel : Pledge in War. April 11, 2011.
- ↑ Shalit takes case to free his son Gilad to the UN ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Jewish Telegraph Agency, September 13, 2011
- ↑ tachles : Does Israel have to pay too high a price? October 12, 2011.
- ↑ Die Welt : Gilad Schalit against 1000 Palestinian prisoners. October 11, 2011.
- ↑ Amos Harel, Anshel Pfeffer: Shin Bet chief: Israel got best Shalit swap deal terms possible (English) , Haaretz . October 11, 2011.
- ↑ Released prisoners arrived to Syria. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: Syria Today, October 19, 2011, accessed October 29, 2011
- ↑ Israel Report 06/2011: Gilad returns home. Israel Report 6 | 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Page 3, (12.2 MB)
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Who will be released in return for Schalit? October 12, 2011
- ↑ Shin Bet placed Hamas prisoners in solitary confinement to protect Shalit deal. Ha-Aretz on October 21, 2011
- ↑ Hamas: Demonstrations won't help free Gilad Shalit. Ha'aretz, October 18, 2008
- ^ A b Solidarity with Gilad Shalit - rallies in European cities. Jewish General, July 1, 2010
- ↑ Shalit named citizen of Paris ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . www.jta.org, December 17, 2008, accessed November 17, 2012
- Jump up ↑ Since it was the year of the year that Shalit è nella mani di Hamas L'Occidentale June 25, 2009, accessed November 17, 2012
- ↑ Tagesschau: 200 kilometers for the freedom of Schalit ( Memento from June 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) , June 27, 2010.
- ↑ "Gilat Shalit stole my book" . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . May 17, 2010, ISSN 1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed September 19, 2018]).
- ↑ The Shark and the Fish. Spiegel 17/2007
- ↑ When the shark and fish first met. (PDF; 68 kB). German translation of the fable on the website of the Israeli Embassy Berlin
- ^ Initiative: Charity box for Gilad Shalit. Ynetnews, July 9, 2011
- ↑ Ynetnews : Egyptian newswoman defends Shalit interview. October 18, 2011
- ^ Spiegel Online : Gilad Schalit's return: "It's good to have you back home". October 18, 2011
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt, October 18, 2011.
- ↑ Israeli soldier: Gilad Shalit is free.
- ↑ Hamas releases footage of Gilad Shalit on final day of Israeli soldier's captivity. In: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 1, 2017, accessed November 13, 2018
- ^ Shalit-prisoners exchange: One year on. BBC News, October 18, 2012
- ↑ Barcelona upset the Palestinians. In: Kurier.at of October 2, 2010, accessed on November 13, 2018
- ^ Gilad Shalit reveals details of his five years held hostage by Hamas. The Telegraph on October 12, 2012
- ↑ Gilad Shalit interviewed about time in Hamas captivity. Digital Journal on October 19, 2012
- ↑ Michael Rochvarger: Gilad Shalit, Israel's Most Famous Former Prisoner of War, Has a New Career. In: Haaretz.com from December 8, 2016, accessed on November 13, 2018 (English)
- ^ Gilad Schalit splits up with girlfriend of four years. In: Jerusalem Post of November 26, 2017, accessed November 13, 2018
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shalit, Gilad |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli soldier |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 28, 1986 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nahariya , Israel |