As part of a joint project involving students from the Jewish community in South Africa and the First Ulpana in Beit Shemesh, dozens of greeting cards for the New Year were written to the kidnapped soldiers - Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. The project was part of the ongoing ties between the two communities through the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 project.
Students in the two communities discussed the issue at school and wrote letters to the kidnapped soldiers, as well as to the UN asking for assistance in their release.

One of the students wrote the following to the UN: "We beg of you to try to make all efforts possible to convince the Hizballah organization and other terrorist organizations to release our kidnapped soldiers and return them to the Land of Israel. We are all very worried about them and miss them very much."

Another student wrote to Gilad Shalit: "Since I heard that you were kidnapped, I have been very sad. You are our soldiers, you guard over us and do all you can for us. I have an uncle who is also a soldier…Never give up hope and come back to us soon."
 

A meeting is planned in mid-November of the representatives of the Jewish community and the Israeli Ambassador in South Africa with the representative of the Red Cross. During the meeting, the representatives of the community will submit the letters from Israel and South Africa to the UN representative.