http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742554.html
Last update - 06:32 25/07/2006
By Jack Khoury, Tomer Levy and Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondents
Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Monday told the families of the two Israeli soldiers who were captured on the Lebanese border that the two are alive and well, and are being held by Hezbollah.
Peres said Israel would do everything to free the abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.
However, Major General Uzi Dayan, who represents the families, criticized the government on Monday for dragging its feet in appointing a representative to coordinate the negotiations to free the abducted soldiers. Dayan said he approached Defense Minister Amir Peretz on the matter last week but nothing had been done since then.
Both Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh have spoken about the captured soldiers. Salloukh said on Sunday that the two kidnapped soldiers are in good health.
Nasrallah said that no one had been authorized to speak about the abducted soldiers.
Peres, who visited the families on Monday, confirmed that the soldiers are well, a statement based on data that Israel has obtained apart from Salloukh's statement.
He said Salloukh's statement was important not only due to the information regarding the soldiers' health but also because it indicated that the Lebanese government was taking responsibility for them.
The Goldwasser family in Nahariya said they had given the International Red Cross a letter to Ehud, and were still waiting for a reply.
The Goldwasser family asked Peres to use all his international connections, especially with countries that have influence on Lebanon, to free the soldiers.
Peres told them of France's involvement in the efforts to free the two men. He also raised the issue at his meeting with the Russian deputy foreign minister last night.
"Hezbollah wanted to turn the kidnapping into a strategic defeat of Israel with missiles. Hezbollah will not cooperate until it is broken," Peres said after meeting with the Regev family in Kiryat Motzkin.
"The damage Hezbollah caused Lebanon is huge," he said.
Peres said: "Syria is two-faced, pretending to fight terror, but in fact helping and guiding Hezbollah and Hamas."
"[Hezbollah] should have understand that from the moment they slipped the safety catch we could only respond with victory," Peres said.
The parents of the abducted soldiers met with the president of the European Jewish Congress, Pierre Besnainou, on Monday, and sought his help in bringing the issue before the European public.
July 25, 2006 03 02 GMT
All Palestinian organizations in Gaza will agree to a cease-fire with Israel and will release captured Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit in exchange for Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) agriculture minister and head of the coordinating committee for the groups, Ibrahim al-Naja, said July 25. Hamas has yet to confirm its compliance. PNA President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to discuss the offer with Condoleezza Rice in their meeting July 25.
So no news on Gilad Shalit. I read that Hamas disavows knowledge of his whereabouts. Tomorrow it will be one month since he was kidnapped.
bttt