The opening paragraph in the lead story in today's Ha'aretz:
Abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be transferred to Egypt within a few days as part of a prisoner-exchange deal with Hamas, European diplomatic sources said Thursday.
Note the 'will be' rather than a qualifying 'could be' transferred within days.
Alongside this headline, there is a side panel with a story about last night's rally for Gilad outside the Defence Ministry offices in Tel Aviv.
I imagine Gilad's family will try, as always, not to allow this speculation to give them even a glimmer of hope. They have been disappointed too many times. What mental torture they have had to endure these past three years.
Three years. As campaign organiser Shimshon Liebman said on Rusty Mike Radio yesterday, that's the length of time Israeli men serve in the army. Soldiers from the July 2006 intake have just been discharged, having completed their entire service during Gilad's captivity.
I don't know whether there is more truth in this latest rumour than in previous ones, but I do get a sense of a new momentum in the campaign - and there has to be. If this U.S. intitiative comes to nothing, pressure must be maintained in Israel and throughout the world to highlight Gilad's plight. We cannot allow yet more "wait and see" tactics now that the three-year mark has passed.
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