Damning Israel
Joy in Israel. Held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza for over five years, abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is due to be released shortly - finally. Israel has this unwritten pact with its servicemen and women, that the country will do everything in its power to bring them home if they are ever in a situation such as Shalit has experienced. Dead or alive, Israel repatriates its own, military or civilian.Which value is well known to Israel's opponents. Which more than adequately explains why it is that terrorist groups have as a goal the abduction, if at all possible, of Israeli soldiers. Since Israel is committed to bringing them home in any condition, dead or alive will do as far as abductors are concerned. Israel has been embroiled in a situation of apprehension over the fate of this young soldier for a long time.
Hamas knows a useful bargaining hand when it has one. The life of one single young Israeli soldier for the release of over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli jails for having committed, or plotted to commit violent crimes against the State of Israel and/or its citizens. Hamas actually demanded the release of thousands of such prisoners, but finally accepted a mere 1,026 prisoners in exchange.
Hamas needs some kind of victory to distinguish itself in the popular Palestinian imagination in view of upcoming elections to stand them in good stead against the popularity that Fatah has achieved with its theatrical dramatics at the United Nations on the declaration of a Palestinian State. So this is as propitious a time as any for Hamas to act, spurred on by Egypt and Turkey.
Three Israeli cabinet ministers have objected to the deal. Considering it as nothing less than a surrender to terror. And a danger to Israel's security. Which it most certainly is. Previous such agreements with the Palestinians have resulted in the release of murderers who upon release from prison have gone on to greater glory in killing more Israelis. Previously-freed terrorists are credited with the murder of over 120 Israelis.
And to agree to such a transfer of prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli is a capitulation. The terrorist organization celebrates its skillful bargaining capabilities, never once considering the morals involved, since these are of no moment to a culture of violence that holds death as dear as life and more so. And the exchange, of course, will have the effect of increasing the likelihood that more such abductions will occur in the future.
Gilad Shalit's parents will now be able to leave their tented vigil in front of the residence of the prime minister, in Jerusalem. Their activities on behalf of freeing their son, has ensured that their son's plight has never been far from the thoughts of ordinary Israelis, the Knesset, and extending outward to compel the International Red Cross, the EU, the U.S., the MidEast Quartet, to speak for his release.
Most parents would want to do the same thing for their beloved child. But their gain is the country's loss. Israel, in once again demonstrating her commitment to life and to the well being of her people, has given a strange gift to the Palestinians which the rest of the world will fail to recognize. Israel's humanity as opposed to the death-dedication of those who wish her ill.
Despite Israel's dedication to her own, and the extension of her humanitarian obligations to all others, she will continue to be condemned as a human-rights-abusing state by those very states who will never relinquish that cherished role by abandoning tyranny and oppression, and whom the international community gives full credence to, damning Israel in the bargain.
Labels: Israel, Palestinian Authority, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, October 12, 2011
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