Concert organised in support of captive soldier Shalit

AFP - Thousands of people massed in a park near the Gaza border on Monday to hear an open air concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and show solidarity with captive soldier Gilad Shalit.
   
The crowd fell silent as maestro Zubin Mehta took to the stage under an enormous banner of Shalit and addressed the audience in English.
   
The concert's aim, Mehta said, was "to inspire people on the other side (Shalit's Gaza captors) to give him humane treatment" and allow the 23-year-old to be visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
   
"I hope he knows we are doing this concert and one day very soon he will know every note we play goes out to him," said the 74-year-old Indian born conductor.
   
Mehta also mentioned the "hundreds of Palestinian mothers" whose sons were still in jail, saying: "Although the sons are not in the same position, they are still in jail, (and their) mothers still suffering and I have to think of them too."
   
Many of the crowd were wearing white t-shirts with the slogan: "Gilad is still alive," holding yellow balloons or sporting yellow ribbons, the colour adopted by the campaign calling for his release.
   
The free concert, featuring a programme of music by Mozart, Albinoni, Verdi and Beethoven, was taking place in Eshkol Park some three kilometers (two miles) from the Gaza border, as a mark of solidarity for Shalit, who was snatched in June 2006.
   
Veteran Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi was also due to perform two popular songs with the orchestra to an audience that included a number of Israeli politicians and foreign diplomats.
   
Several hours before the concert, Shalit's family visited the site where he was seized along the Gaza border near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
   
Standing some 200 metres (yards) from the border fence, Noam Shalit said he felt both close to and very far from his son, who is being held by militants inside the impoverished territory.
   
"Gilad is physically close to us but at the same time very far from us," he told reporters at the scene. "If people had done the right thing back then, Gilad would be with us now."
   
The visit to Kerem Shalom came in the middle of a 12-day march by the family that began at their home in northern Israel and is set to end at the Jerusalem residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
   
The march, which began on June 27 and has drawn tens of thousands of supporters, arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday and is due to reach Jerusalem by Thursday.
   
Sderot has been repeatedly targeted by Gaza militants, who have fired more than 80 rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel this year, according to the Israeli military.
   
The event, which the organisers say will cost 100,000 dollars (80,000 euros) to stage, is being financed by private donors and will be broadcast live on Israeli radio and television.