I said a bad word in the car this morning when the local radio announcer gave the headlines. He said that Israel had apparently agreed to a prisoner exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas in June.
The announcement may be a bit premature, if this article in today's London Times has the facts straight, but not by much. The article is about Israel's Prime Minister Olmert possibly sitting down to talk with the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister Abbas. But in the middle is this:
But Mr Abbas today played down reports in the local press that a prisoner exchange deal was imminent, stressing that negotiations had not yet been concluded.
“What I said was that there were agreements sponsored by our Egyptian brothers but they have not yet materialised,” he said.
Under the proposed deal, Egypt would play the role of mediator, taking charge of the captured soldier after which there would be an exchange of prisoners.
Olmert has learned nothing from his fight this summer with Hezbollah and Hamas. Nothing.
For a long time Israel's policy was to never negotiate with terrrorists. During the 1972 Munich Olympics, Israel didn't negotiate. Then, later, they did it "just this once." And they're still doing it.
The fights against Hamas in Gaza over Corporal Shalit and against Hezbollah in Lebanon over two other kidnapped soldiers indicated that Israel's approach had changed. But the change didn't last long, and now Israel's enemies have learned anew the lesson they learned the first time Israel negotiated: Kidnapping works.
WorldNetDaily reported today that the Palestinians will begin new training operations.
Palestinian terror organizations are currently training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out operations aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers, said a terror leader whose group in June abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
The leader thanked the international community for what he said was its recognition that kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results."
He told WorldNetDaily the "best way" to gain the freedom of thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including convicted terrorists, is by more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.
Olmert has only himself to blame, but the ones who will pay the price for his weakness will be Israel's soldiers.
3 comments:
The only outside chance of Israel gaining anything from this is take the opportunity to point out how far Israel has bent over backwards to be cooperative with the world body and their neighbors while sending a strong message that they will protect themselves with strength. That next action against Israel will meet with double or triple the response. That Israel has played by the rules thus far, but will play by Hezbollah's and Hamas' rules next time.
Will it help? Probably not, but in spite of their cooperation to the point of folly, Israel has an image problem.
AICS,
Israel can bend over backwards, tie herself into a pretzel, make a fancy bow, and then dip herself in chocolate, and "world opinion" would still criticize her.
The only thing that can save Israel is for her to hit her enemies when they attack, hit them hard, and hit them every time. No more negotiating. Ever.
Israelis will die. But not as many, in the long run, as if Israel continues to negotiate. Israel must keep fighting until her enemies are dead or defeated. She has no other options if she wants to survive.
"Israel must keep fighting until her enemies are dead or defeated. She has no other options if she wants to survive."
Dead or defeated... And that will be - when a leader in the U.S. or Israel finally wakes up and realizes that these twisted religious zealots will keep coming at us regardless of what we do... until they are ...dead or defeated.
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