Schalit supporters block cash from reaching Gaza

Activists surround armored 'Brinks' truck, chant: "Money won't pass until Gilad is returned"; delivery eventually turns around, returns to Israel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Schalit activists block 'Brinks' truck from reaching Gaza 31 (photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Schalit activists block 'Brinks' truck from reaching Gaza 31
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
An armored Brink’s security truck carrying cash to the Gaza Strip returned to Israel without delivering its payload after activists demanding the release of captive soldier Gilad Schalit sat on the road and prevented the truck from proceeding to the Erez crossing on Tuesday.
The activists, who positioned themselves on the only road leading to the Gaza Strip crossing, surrounded the truck and chanted, “The money won't pass until Gilad is returned,” and “Gilad is still alive,” along with other slogans commonly heard at pro-Schalit rallies.
Police who arrived to disperse the protest attempted to negotiate with the activists, but after nearly an hour, it was decided that the truck would turn around and attempt to deliver the cash via another of the crossings into the Strip.
On Monday, Noam Schalit called on the US Congress to halt its funding to the Palestinian Authority until his son, Gilad, was freed from captivity. In a statement, Schalit also expressed his disappointment in Israel’s decision to transfer tax funds to the PA, despite its newly signed unity deal with Hamas, his son’s captors.
“I am calling on the heads of the Congress to use their influence to prevent financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority until Gilad is released,” Schalit said in the statement.