MEPs demand Hamas release Israeli soldier

BRUSSELS - The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution calling on Hamas to immediately release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006 by the Palestinian militant group in a cross-border raid.

The chamber by a strong majority said that it was wrong that Mr Shalit, both an Israeli and French citizen, was held incommunicado in Gaza and deprived of basic rights in accordance with the Geneva Convention and demanded that Hamas "be as good as its word and grant Sergeant Shalit rights and privileges in accordance with the Third 1949 Geneva Convention."

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."

The house called on 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."

The passage of the appeal came a day after Noam Shalit, the father of the IDF soldier, met with European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek.

Mr Shalit gave the president news of negotiations on his son, currently ongoing with Hamas, categorised by the EU as a terrorist group, and mediated by Germany and Egypt.

"The European Union gives a lot of money to the Palestinians, and I hope the Palestinians, and especially Hamas, won't be able to ignore" the vote, he said, according to AFP.

Israel is understood to be ready to release some 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 23-year-old soldier. Hamas however, has demanded the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Noam Shalit hoped that the EU "should say clear and loud that it is not acceptable that Hamas is keeping anyone, and especially a European citizen, in captivity for four years, in complete isolation, without any contact with the outside world."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to visit the Gaza Strip later this month and also met with the soldier's father while he was in Strasbourg.

"I hope she will call for Hamas to conclude this issue and release my son Gilad, and for Israel to remove the [blockade] on the Gaza strip," he said.