Aviva Schalit grateful as 4,000 activists march toward Ramle.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFFSchalit march 311 AP(photo credit: Associated Press)
Day Nine of the Gilad Schalit "Freedom March" toward Jerusalem began Tuesday in Tel Aviv and will end the day in Ramle.Some 4,000 activists marched down Highway 1 and the Ayalon, stopping his afternoon at Beit Dagan for a ceremony.RELATED:Gazans: Release all Hamas prisonersOpinion: Why I’m not marchingMy Word: Out of StepGilad Schalit's mother Aviva said that the public's support gives the family strength.Last night the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra filled the air on the Gaza border Monday evening when it played outdoors for Schalit.“Every note that we play today is going toward him,” said renowned conductor Zubin Mehta, who conducted the hourlong performance called “A Cry to the World” in the Eshkol National Park. More than 8,000 people came.Schalit’s parents are making from their Mitzpe Hila home in the Upper Galilee to Jerusalem, where they plan to sit in a protest tent outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s official residence until their son is freed.
Noam Schalit said that the release of “1,001 prisoners, 1,000 Palestinians and one Israeli [Gilad], is a humanitarian activity of the highest order.” His son, he said, was held in a Hamas basement in Gaza only a few kilometers from the Eshkol Park. “Do not forget Gilad, who is waiting for us and screaming to us from the depth of the darkness that separates him from his family, friends and the rest of the world,” he said.