President Sarkozy delivers a message from Shalit's father to President Assad

Thursday September 04, 2008 11:01 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

French president , Nicolas Sarkozy, will deliver a message from the father of captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit to President Basshhar aL-Assad, French presidency sources reported.

French Presdient, Nicolas Sarkuzi

The sources added that the message delivery will take place indirectly, as the Syrian president does not wish to appear as if he were a mediator between Israel and Hamas party, which holds Shalit in Gaza.

During a meeting of the Quartet Committee in Damascus today, the French president is expected to hand the message over to his Syrian counterpart, who in turn will deliver it to Prince of Qattar, then to Khaled Masha'al, the exiled leader of Hamas.

Sarkozy has repeatedly pledged to move the Shalit case forward, as Shalit holds a double Israeli-French citizenship.

Corporal Gil'ad Shalit, was captured in June2006, by Hamas and two other Palestinian groups during a cross-border attack in southern Gaza. The capture of Shalit came right after the Israeli army nabbed two Palestinians from the border Palestinian town of Rafah.

Since June19,2008, Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal , in which negotiations over Shalit should have resumed. Hamas insists that Shalit be swapped with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, while Israel refuses.

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