Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

Anniversary Comes as Red Crescent Boats Prepare to Travel to Gaza on “Humanitarian Aid” Mission to Break Blockade

Israel Continues to Transfer Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Video of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in captivity
Journalists Arrested or Kidnapped by Palestinian Militants in Gaza since Sept. 2004

As Israel marks four years since Iran-backed Hamas has held an Israeli-French soldier hostage, the terror group is again refusing to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit him. The latest denial comes as two boats from Iran’s Red Crescent,[1] part of the International Red Cross, await permission to join an aid flotilla bound for Gaza with the goal of illegally breaking Israel’s maritime blockade.[2][3]

Allowing the Red Cross to visit Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, Hamas Politburo Deputy Chief Mousa Abu Marzouk said June 11, could give away where Hamas is keeping the 23-year-old hidden.[4]

Hamas and two other groups, the Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees and The Army of Islam,[5] kidnapped Shalit in an unprovoked attack inside Israel on June 25, 2006. At the time, the terrorists also killed two Israeli soldiers. Shalit, 19 at the time, was wounded[6] but Hamas has denied him medical attention or visits by any humanitarian group, a violation of the Geneva Convention.[7]

Until Hamas released a video of Shalit in October 2009, Hamas offered few signs that Shalit was alive or details about his condition.[8]

Last month, self-described peace activists participating in a six-vessel flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza rejected a request by Shalit’s father to bring his son a letter and small package from him.[9]

In exchange, Israeli authorities said they would allow the flotilla to deliver its cargo to Gaza through a nearby Israeli port.[10] The flotilla’s organizers refused his request,[11] saying it didn’t align with their mission. Their objective, they said, was “to force the blockade of Gaza and that it could not be subject to a condition.”[12]

At the time of Shalit’s kidnapping, Fatah – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ party – was in charge of the Gaza Strip. It wasn’t until a year later – June 14, 2007 – that Hamas took over governance of Gaza in a bloody coup.[13]

In 2005, Israel voluntarily gave up all of Gaza, removing all Israelis there, in hopes of paving the way for a peaceful, independent Palestinian state. Since Israel’s withdrawal from the territory, Hamas has fired more than 6,500 rockets and mortars into Israel.[14]

On March 11, 2010, the European Parliament voted for a resolution calling for the immediate release of Shalit. The resolution “deplores the continued disregard for Sergeant Shalit’s basic human rights and the fact that his family and the Israeli and French authorities have been prevented from obtaining information regarding his well-being; therefore urges Hamas to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Sergeant Shalit without delay, and to permit him to communicate with his family in accordance with the Third 1949 Geneva Convention.”[15]

On April 25, 2010, Hamas published a video showing Shalit’s father Noam wandering the streets of Tel Aviv with a picture of his kidnapped son, accompanied by an audio recording of the young soldier released by Hamas in September 2009.[16]

Israel has attempted to negotiate numerous times with third parties for Shalit’s release. But since November 2009, Hamas leaders have not responded to a proposal to free Shalit that would have allowed the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, including former terrorists linked to killings of Israeli civilians.[17]

Israel and the international community have repeatedly called on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and release abducted soldier Gilad Shalit in order to ease the blockade, but Hamas has refused to meet these terms.[18]

In a meeting between Abbas and President Obama in Washington June 9, Abbas said he opposes lifting the naval blockade in the Gaza Strip, since such a move would “bolster Hamas.” Abbas stated that it should not be lifted at this stage, and any reduction of restrictions should be gradual and cautious to prevent a perceived victory for Hamas. Egypt is also in favor of maintaining the naval blockade because of arms smuggling concerns should it be lifted.[19]

In addition to targeting Israeli citizens and soldiers, Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza have arrested and kidnapped a number of journalists.

Journalists Arrested or Kidnapped by Palestinian Militants in Gaza since Sept. 2004:

• Feb. 14, 2010 – British freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker Paul Martin arrested and held by Hamas in Gaza. At the time, Hamas said it would hold him for 15 days on suspicion of “[violating] Palestinian law and the security in Gaza.”[20]
• March 12, 2007 – BBC correspondent Alan Johnston is kidnapped by a Gaza-based clan calling itself the Army of Islam. This group is thought to have ties to al-Qaeda. Johnston’s captors released a video on the Internet demanding that Britain release several Muslim prisoners including Islamist al-Qaeda cleric Abu Qatada.[21]
• Jan. 7, 2007 – Jaime Razuri from Agence France-Presse is kidnapped and released almost a week later. The kidnappers were not identified.[22]
• Oct. 23, 2006 – Emilio Morenatti, an Associated Press photographer, is kidnapped by unidentified Palestinian gunmen and released on the same day.[23]
• Aug. 27, 2006 – Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig are held for two weeks by a previously unknown group identified as the Holy Jihad Brigades. They were released unharmed after being forced to convert to Islam.[24]
• March 15, 2006 – Caroline Laurent, reporter for the French-language weekly ELLE; Alfred Yaghobzadeh, photographer for France’s Sipa Press; and Yong Tae-Young, a correspondent for South Korea’s KBS are kidnapped from the Al-Dira Hotel in Gaza. Palestinian Security Services claim the kidnappers are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The journalists were released within 22 hours.[25]
• Oct. 12, 2005 – Dion Nissenbaum and Adam Pletts of Knight Ridder News Service (now McClatchy Newspapers) are abducted by renegade members of the Fatah party. The journalists were freed later that day.[26]
• Sept. 10, 2005 – Journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi of Corriere della Serra (Italy) is abducted in the town of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. He was released the same day.[27]
• Aug.15, 2005 – Journalist Mohammad Ouathi, a French citizen of Algerian origin is kidnapped and released a week later. No group claimed responsibility.[28]
• Jan. 8, 2005 – Ramon Lobo and Carmen Secanella, reporters for Spain’s El Pais, are kidnapped briefly by Palestinian militants in Gaza’s Khan Younes refugee camp.[29]
• Sept. 27, 2004 – Riad Ali, producer for CNN is abducted at gunpoint and released the following day. Ali claims that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was behind his kidnapping but the militia has denied the allegations.[30]