Israel will continue Gaza blockade until Shalit is released

Is this the right way to get Shalit released? Continuing the blockade only serves as a propaganda prop for the Hamas, which can rant about the Gaza siege. The proper place to put pressure is on international institutions such as the ICRC, the UN and human rights groups, which are not going anything to get Shalit released. (see here for example )

 

Last update - 19:41 17/03/2009       
Israel: Gaza blockade to continue until Shalit freed
By Barak Ravid, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters

Israel will not ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip until abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit is freed by the enclave's Hamas Islamist rulers, an Israeli political source said on Tuesday after talks with Hamas stalled.

 

"The crossings ... are operating at a minimum to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the source said following a special cabinet briefing to dicuss the negotiations. "And they [the crossings] will remain so until
Gilad Shalit is released."
 
The Egyptian-brokered talks hit an impasse over Israel's refusal to free all 450 long-serving Palestinian prisoners sought by Hamas in exchange for Shalit, seized by Palestinian militants who tunnelled into Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2006.

 

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed to free more than 320 of the 450 prisoners on the Hamas list, Israeli political sources said.

 

But Olmert balked at releasing those who orchestrated the deadliest bus and cafe bombings that have killed scores of Israelis since the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising in 2000, the sources said... .