Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a senior Mossad officer as his special emissary for the release of the Israeli soldier being held in Gaza. David Meidan has been charged with taking Gilad Shalit back to Israel; the soldier has been held by Palestinian resistance factions for about five years.
Radio Israel reported that Netanyahu has chosen Meidan as the replacement for Haggai Hadas, due to his involvement as a department head in Mossad on several aspects of the Shalit case.
Shalit’s father claims that the prime minister told him that the efforts made to obtain Shalit’s release have not borne fruit to-date. Noam Shalit said that he is angry and frustrated because two consecutive Israeli governments have not succeeded in returning Shalit to his family.
Palestinian resistance factions abducted Shalit in June, 2006 from an Israeli military base next to the Gaza Strip. They are demanding the release of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, including 400 prisoners serving long sentences and life sentence, in return for Shalit. The list of Palestinian prisoners includes women, children and those who are ill.