PARIS (EJP)---Noam Shalit, whose son Gilad is detained by Hamas in Gaza since he was kidnapped in June 2006, called on MPs from across Europe who gathered in Paris to use their influence to work for the young man's immediate release.
“We are more and more worried about Gilad’s fate. We cannot wait while Hamas is in no hurry and feel safer with my son in its hands,” Noam Shalit told some 300 parliamentarians from 42 countries across Europe and several ministers attending a gala dinner in Paris of the first policy conference of “European Friends of Israel” (EFI), a pan-European lobby organization aimed at deepening EU-Israel ties.
“Please use your leverage and influence to work for the release of Gilad before it is too late,” he said.
“Tell Hamas that keeping a European citizen in captivity since 2006 is totally unacceptable and intolerable.”
Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Palestinian groups on Israeli soil near the Gaza strip, has dual Israeli and French citizenship.
“He is held captive since 865 days and 865 long nights in total isolation, without any contact with his family, in violation of international conventions.”
Noam Shalit denounced the fact that Hamas refuses any visit from the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) and from Amnesty International. He stressed that the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, “is using Gilad for a political game as a human shield and an insurance policy.“
Noam Shalit thanked French President Nicolas Sarkozy “for his courage and humanitarian acts.” “No other world leader has done what he did to help us,” he said.
“Merci Monsieur le Président de la République”, (Thanks Mister President), he added in French.
The two-day EFI conference is taking place in Paris as France currently chairs the rotating presidency of the European Union.
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The EFI Policy Conference adopted a 'Paris declaration' for a closer and stronger partnership between Israel and the EU.
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Guest speakers included Dalia Itzik, Speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, President of the European Parliament, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country will take over the EU presidency in January, and Luis Maria de Puig, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The conference adopted a “Paris declaration” for a closer and stronger partnership between Israel and the European Union.
The declaration “recognizes the common values that bind Europe and Israel and a shared cultural heritage reinforced by interests based upon friendship and mutual respect for human dignty, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
In June, the EU-Israeli Association Council agreed to launch the process of upgrading bilateral EU-Israel ties.