KIDNAPPED ISRAELI SOLDIER'S PARENTS MOVE SC By Harinder Mishra

Jerusalem, Jun 23 (PTI) Parents of a kidnapped Israeli
soldier have petitioned the Supreme Court against the
government's decision to lift economic blockade and
open border crossings between the Gaza Strip and the Jewish
state before their son is released from captivity.

In the the petition, Noam and Aviva Shalit, parents of
abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, alleged that Israeli Premier
Ehud Olmert lied to the security Cabinet on June 18 by telling
the ministers that the ceasefire agreement with Palestinian
militant faction Hamas included the release of their son.

"The Cabinet members were told unequivocally that Gilad's
release was an integral part of the agreement," the
petitioners wrote.

"To the best of the petitioners' knowledge, these things
were said several times during the meeting and recorded in the
minutes," said the petition filed yesterday.

It was because of this declaration, the Shalits' lawyers
argued, that the security Cabinet approved the ceasefire.
"Had the ministers been told that the agreement would not be
made conditional on Gilad's release, there is a significant
probability that the committee would have made a different
decision," it said.

The petitioners have also argued that Noam Shalit had met
Olmert six times since his son's kidnapping on June 25, 2006
and each time the Prime Minister had assured him that any
ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas would include Gilad's
release.

Once the border crossings were opened and the economic
blockade of the Gaza Strip lifted, Hamas would have no
incentive to release Shalit and negotiations could continue
for years, the parents of the kidnapped soldier asserted.

They have also argued that if the border crossings were
opened, the militant factions could move Shalit out of the
Gaza Strip.

The family's lawyers said that even though the Supreme
Court does not intervene in matters of foreign policy, the
issues at stake here were different.

"First of all, the Cabinet decision to approve the
ceasefire had been based on a 'lie' and secondly, the decision
not to include Shalit in the ceasefire agreement was a
violation of his constitutional right to life in accordance
with the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom," they said.

Responding to the petition, government spokesman Mark
Regev said that "the government understands the pain of the
Shalit family and has nothing but respect for them."

Shalits' lawyers had last Wednesday written to Olmert,
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak,
giving them a 48-hour ultimatum to withdraw their approval of
the ceasefire agreement with Hamas and to bring the issue back
to the security Cabinet for another vote.