ISRAEL: Leaving a man behind?
It's been 900 days and counting since Israeli army soldier Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid and became a hostage somewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Shalit's name has never been far from the headlines, as his family has consistently pressured Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to do more to bring Shalit home. The issue holds special resonance in Israeli society, which places a premium on bringing home captured soldiers as well as the remains of those killed in battle.
This week, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni kicked over a hornet's nest by suggesting that it may be impossible to bring back Shalit safely.
"We can't always bring our troops home," Livni said in a speech before a group of high school students in Tel Aviv. "We all want Gilad to come back home, but part of the willingness to fight is the understanding that we don't have any other choice. There is always a risk of casualties, and it's not always possible to bring everyone back home."
On Friday, a group of protesters gathered outside Livni's Tel Aviv home. A second protest group has set up a round-the-clock vigil outside Olmert's home, demanding that he do something decisive to bring back Shalit before leaving office next spring.
But Israel faces a host of unpalatable options. Third-party negotiations via Egypt have gone nowhere, with both Hamas officials and Cairo starting to trade accusations of stubbornness. And despite occasional calls in Israel for a large-scale incursion and rescue operation, such a move would be complicated and potentially bloody and would almost certainly endanger Shalit's life.
-- Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem
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"By day 14 the number (of Arab prisoners) executed would be 8192 that day."
It seems that such ideas will just push us deeper into the abyss.
I hope LA Times readers will visit sites like The Palestine Review - just to get a dose of reality.
The Palestine Review
http://palestinereview.com
Posted by: John Smith | December 14, 2008 at 03:37 PM
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is a loud mouth talker. What would she say if it was her son in place of Shalit? With the shoe on the other foot she would change her tune.
I know that she said that she could not protect her own son any better. But it is easy to talk until a person walks a mile in another's moccasins.
She needs to sit down and shut up. Let Feiglin come to power, let the traitor Bibi fail and the matter of captured hostages will be resolved once and for all.
No invasion is necessary. on day one after a demand for release of all hostatges one Arab terrorist with blood on his hands should be executed with bullets soaked in hog's blood. Day two would bring twice as many executions in like manner. Day three would bring twice as many executions as the day before, in like manner. Day four would bring twice as many executions as the day before, in like manner.
By day 10 the number executed would be 512 that day. By day 14 the number executed would be 8192 that day. Certainly by that time all Arab terrorists in Israeli prisons would have been accomodated in their wish for the 72 virgins. In any event, the 7 remaining Israeli hostages in Arab hands and the 2 remaining hostages in American hands would have been avenged properly by the removal of 16,383 Arab terrorists from ever hurting a innocent person again.
Posted by: Ivan Hubscher | December 13, 2008 at 05:24 PM