Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit released from captivity

That's true. My statement sounded more "all-inclusive" then intended.

 

And there are plenty of murderers free all over the world. Some wear American uniforms. Some wear Israeli uniforms. Some wear Saudi uniforms.

Some wear whatever the hell or don't wear any uniforms at all.

This just in --> We live in an unfair, cruel world.

 

BBC played an audio clip of people in Gaza City chanting something like 'Palestian honor demands more Gilad Shilats'. It didn't sound like 100k chanting at once, but certainly at least several hundred.

The thing that saddened me was the 'man on the street' interviews the BBC had with several Gazans who were talking about the right to continue resisting untill 'all of Palestine' is free from Zionist occupation. It was the absolute opposite of any sense that this could be a step towards peace. It sounded like this 'victory' over Israel was a cause for renewed belief in the realism of this goal.

If they still want that sort of all or nothing zero sum game, good luck. Its worked out great so far.

 

I've been as critical as anyone regarding the Israel and its politics, but I have to commend them for Gilad Shalit.

For a while now, he's been a national interest in Israel, garnering headlines in many major newspapers, tv shows, and the like. When they say 'we support the troops' I believe that they mean it, and Shalit is a great example of that.

If there's something for us to learn in this country from what transpired, it should be about how nameless our own military has become to us. We've had POWs held for extended periods of time by terrorist entities who's names are unrecognizable to the masses, and more often than not those people receive little to no press coverage, even when their families plead with the government to do more to secure their release.

 

That might be the case but in total, Hamas's approval rates are awful. Their approval ratings in the West Bank are even worse. The economic boom in the West Bank has been attributed to Fatah. Even in Gaza Hamas was polling at below 30% before the prisoner exchange. Hamas wasn't elected because they had terrorist elements. They were elected because people wanted economic change. Well that change came but it wasn't become of Hamas. You can find radicals in Gaza that are cheering but from personal experience in the West Bank, people don't give a damn about Hamas.

I remember my taxi driver in jericho being pretty blunt about Hamas. Hamas did none of the things they promised in Gaza. They were supposed to build the schools, hospitals, roads etc.. Instead, they turned everything into a political agenda against the Israelis. The number 1 concern of palestinians in the West Bank isn't Israel. It's getting roads and basic infrastructure. And Fatah has done a far better job of that.

 

Turns out electing a terrorist organization is not the best way to get infrastructure built? It seems like someone in Gaza would have the good sense to build a party based on having good relations with Israel.

 

You realize that Hamas was the source of basic infrastructure for many Palestinians. (particularly in Gaza) They ran the hospitals and schools that people relied on. When government failed, they were the ones stepping up. So its quite reasonable to understand why people put their faith in them. They were the ones trying to make things better while Fatah was (and still is) a bunch of corrupt bureaucrats.

The problem is that Hamas never did anything after being elected. Meanwhile Fatah did a decent job of trying to do the basic things that government should do. When I was in Ramallah they were rebuilding all of the roads in central Ramallah. That's a sign of government doing something. The Palestinians are like any group of people. They want people in charge who will do something to make their lives better.

 

This has been my experience as well from the people I talked to, although to be fair, the Palestinians I know are the ones that paid to see me play in a bar, which probably do not constitute a majority of opinion.

 

Florentine, South Tel Aviv.

 

This is true. The last five years it was impossible to go a day without seeing his face on a t-shirt, a billboard or a bus sign. For all of my cynicism about the deal, people of all stripes really supported his release, no matter the cost.

It also bears mentioning that he is also a French citizen, and the French government tried negotiating as well. That didn't work out so well.

 

Compare his ordeal and national support to Bowe Robert Bergdahl, an American soldier captured by the Taliban in June of 2009 who remains in their custody to this day. Few to no Americans know his name. His father made an appeal to the Pakistani military last May, a video I doubt most Americans have seen.

If the US Government could secure his release for the release of a few dozen prisoners being held in Gitmo, do you think they'd do it? I for one doubt it.

 

The US doesn't do that....and neither does the UK, France, Russia, or China.
Another question would be, "How would the the US public react if Bergdahl's family camped outside the White House for five years and demanded Obama negotiate whatever the Taliban wanted for his release?"

I don't think that would be the same, either.

 

Is it so difficult to see that each side will judge the prisoners based on their OWN values and not the other side's values?

To the government of Israel and some of you, Gilad Shalit was a prisoner of war and 1000+ Hamas-ish people were released.

To Palestinians and some of you, Gilad Shalit was the possibly armed soldier of the occupying enemy force and 1000+ people who were given shady judicial treatment are being released.

To use one set of standards to judge all parties and expect others to view things the same way is pretty ignorant IMO. As much as we like to believe so at times, there's no such thing as THE law. There's only such a thing as A law, and YOUR opinion.

 

Sadly you seem spot on here. I've long ago given up thinking either side in this conflict has the moral high ground.

 

There's still international law and a value for human life.

The first is cited selectively when it coincides with one's political objective, then decried as biased and irrelevant when it doesn't. The second generally counts only for fellow tribe members. I don't see Israel losing sleep over an IDF Bedouin or Druze soldier captured by Hamas, and I don't see Hamas demanding the release of Israeli leftists captured for protesting land seizures.

I could be wrong, and I would LOVE to be wrong, but I remain pretty cynical about that.

Today Abbas said that Olmert promised to release prisoners to the PA, but only after Gilad Shalit is returned, and he was asked to not make a peep about it until it happened.

Now he wants to collect on the deal...IF Bibi follows through, then Abbas will get some political capital back and it could be very good news for the negotiations the Quartet is trying to push.

If he doesn't, I could easily see it become a Third Intifada, with that option being the only one to restore Abbas' political capital.

Ain't statecraft fun?