Hypocrite Zionist Sarkozi Demands Release of Captured Israeli Soldier, Ignoring 11,000 Palestinian Political Prisoners, Including Women and Children

France demands Syria to aid in releasing Shalit

Tuesday January 27, 2009 21:45 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

French President, Nikolay Sarkozi, sent a senate member to Syria asking the Syrian government to help in efforts to release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by the Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza in 2006.

Sarkozi wants Syria to pressure Hamas into releasing the soldier, who also carries French Citizenship. The move came after Sarkozi met with the father of Shalit.

Sarkozi phoned the Syrian president, Bashar Asad, last week and discussed the issue of Shalit with him before sending his envoy on the same issue.

The envoy, French senator, Philippe Marini, said that the issue of Shalit was among the top issues on Sarkozi's agenda during his visit to Syria earlier this month. Last week, Sarkozi phoned Asad and discussed the same issue with him.

During his visit to Syria, Sarkozi said that Shalit is a French Citizen and France is responsible for defending its citizens.

On his side, Marini, who enjoys strong relations with Syria, said that releasing Shalit is interconnected with ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

During his meeting with Asad, Marini said that “everybody needs to understand that the Shalit's case is important to achieve progress in maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza”.

Marini did not mention that nearly 11.000 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, held in Israel prisons.

Hamas said that it rejects linking the issue of Shalit with other issues on the ground, as the issue of Shalit is about a prisoner swap deal and has nothing to do with ceasefire.

The movement is demanding Israel to release 500 Palestinian detainees, including Ahmad Sa'adat, secretary-general of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Marwan Barghouthi, a senior Fateh leader and political figure.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.