Game on for soldier
A YEAR after emerging from captivity in Gaza, Gilad Shalit has hung up his gun and picked up a pen, as the former captive soldier takes up a new life as a sports columnist for an Israeli newspaper.
But in stark contrast with the five years he spent in captivity, when the young soldier’s profile was high, Shalit is now doing his utmost to steer clear of the public eye.
And exactly a year after his release on October 18, 2011, in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners, Shalit has made sure he is far from the media glare — on a private trip to the US.
‘‘He is trying to live his life, to make up for lost time, to go out with his friends and discover the world,’’ his father Noam Shalit said.
Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants during a deadly cross-border raid in 2006, and held incommunicado in Gaza until October last year, when he was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the ruling Hamas movement.
The controversial swap, which saw hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who were serving life for anti-Israeli attacks walk free, was claimed by both sides as a victory.
‘‘The Shalit deal was one of the biggest achievements of the Palestinian resistance,’’ said Taher al-Nunu, spokesman f or Gaza’s Hamas government.
‘‘ It proves ( capturing soldiers) is the best way to have prisoners released.’’