I admit I feel for Gilad Shalit's plight and more so for his family's suffering. He has had a long time to regret the fact that he is a soldier of the IDF in Israel that do nothing to assist their soldiers who are captured and become prisoners of war.

The terms have not changed in five years and to correct you it is for the release of 1,000 Palestinians. The terms didn't change even after the Gaza war when your will remember Israel's obscene invasion by land sea and air in 2008 1,400 predominately Palestinian citizens were killed. Whole towns and villages and the country’s infrastructure of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, electricity, sewerage and drinking water were razed to the ground and destroyed. After Israel's blood fest it left Gaza but tightened the siege where absolutely nothing and no one can get in or out.

Israel is also well known for the nocturnal kicking down of Palestinian’s doors and taking all men from age 14 to age 60. They are not charged with any crime and are taken to jail without representation and can be held indefinitely without charge. Their crime is never stipulated as there isn’t one. Israel has a policy to periodically round up innocent Palestinians for this very purpose to trade then in case one of their soldiers is captured.

Finally Gilad Shalit is a professional soldier and as such is trained for such circumstances the Palestinian civilian is not

Do we hear the same kind of pleading for the release of the many Palastinians who have been detained without just cause or trial by the murderous Isreli government?, I think nought! Those who are pleading for this soldier who was patroling stolen land should get a grip on reality and put things in a realistic perspectrive.

Shalit's fate is entirely in the hands of Tel Aviv.
Besides, Shalit is French.
What was he doing bearing arms for a pariah state?

That the author can talk about human rights after the killing of 1400 Palestinians in Gaza, including 400 children,and the daily humiliation and harassment of Palestinians on their own land demonstrates the breathtaking myopia of Zionists.

Thank you Sam Tatarka for bringing Gilad Shalit's captivity to attention. Hamas' conduct is deplorable; the world has witnessed their cycnical use of their own people as human shields and the indoctrination of their children to violence and hatred. I will be thinking of Gilad today and many people around the world will be hoping and praying that he will be free, home in Israel soon.

Thank you Sam for a enlightening article about the illegal kidnapping of Gilad Shalit by the internationally recognized Islamist terror Organization who lead the Palestinians.

It's a pity this group of fanatics have ignored all the norms of warfare and Geneva convention but thats what we expect from these type of people , even the Palestinian Christians live in fear.

Hopefully Gilad is still alive and will one day see his family, meantime Israel should continue to have a vibrant economy and lead the world in Medicine, Hitec, Science and Education whilst the Palestinian keep fighting amongst them, selves.

Hope to see another article from You.

Micahel B

The facts are stark and not so simple.Some would suggest the Helen Thomas solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufLAitMq3zI&feature=player_embedded#at=19

It seems only Jews can love their children. Of course the families of the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails do not also yearn for the release of their loved ones.
Simply dismissing all Palestinian resistance against an illegal occupation as terrorism does not change the reality. It is the Israeli's who do the vast majority of the killing and kidnapping in Israel/Palestine.
Unlike the hundreds of Children killed by the IDF over the past few years, at least Shalit is a soldier, and so a valid military target. In fact Prisoner of War would be a more apt title than kidnapped soldier.

If Gilad should be classified as a 'Prisoner of War' as an academic at Monash Rhys you should know that the Palestinian government has once again broken international Law and ignored the Geneva convention[ and any Morality] by refusing to acknowledge Gilad is alive and allow Red Cross or Magen David access as well as letters etc.

The fact that so many Jews do care about one of their own and not in a hurry to become a martyr shows the difference between the Palestinians and the Jews of Israel. Perhaps thats why the Jordanians threw them out the Lebanese keep them in Camps, the oil Arabs only use the Palestinians as cannon fodder.

Perhaps the Palestinians should look at Israel and what they have done with no Oil , no money and very little population instead of feeling sorry for themselves. If they wanted peace they could have achieved it long ago unfortunately they they prefer Martyrdom.

I am shocked by some comments here of people supposedly supporting human rights who deny Gilad Shalit his because of their political stand. The word hypocritical comes to mind.

Well said Wazza!
If you truly stand for human rights then you support human rights for all.

I am shocked that people do not have enough sympathy in their hearts to be able to separate politics from human emotion.
If Gilad Shalit is a "Prisoner of War" and not an abducted soldier, then he should be afforded the same rights as other prisoners of war, and be given Red Cross visits, etc. The last sign of life from Gilad Shalit was 2 years ago.
Furthermore, some posters have talked about Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and I'd like to suggest that there is are just a few differences between them and Gilad Shalit. Let us put aside the fact that they have been tried and convicted of a crime (many of which have blood on their hands). Their families know where they are, know what condition they are in health wise, and in some cases can visit them as well. Many even get an education through the Open University and can have conjugal visits.
Gilad's parent's do not know where Gilad is. They do not know if he is in poor health, if he is being treated well, whether he is being fed etc.

I am also assuming that those of you that could not care less about Gilad's human rights have absolutely nothing to say about Hamas and their deadly Covenant (http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1609.htm) with its racist and genocidal overtones. We're not dealing with some harmless boy scout organisation here. These guys had no problems throwing their own people off the side of buildings, killing those they suspect of "collaborating" with the enemy", and lets not get started on their record towards women's rights, gay rights, etc. Yep, let's keep ignoring Hamas and just keep blaming Israel for everything. Much easier.

Unfortunately Sandiago your common sense remarks will fall on deaf Ears with the likes of Left wing Academics from Monash and DR Evan Jones from University of NSW .
The left wing doctrine clearly has no time for Human Rights for Jews of Israel

For your information Burdy I am not an academic from Monash University. I don't know where you got that.
Is it not hypocritical for Israeli's to complain about the imprisonment of 1 man when they imprison thousands?
Certainly some of those 10,000 Palestinian prisoners have blood on their hands. But how many IDF soldiers have blood on theirs? I don't know if Gilad Shalit killed any Palestinians but I do know that the IDF have killed literally hundreds of Palestinian children. Some 3-400 in "operation cast lead" alone. Remember that much of the justification for this nasty blood bath was an attempt to get Shalit back.
This is the hypocrisy that disturbs me so much. One soldier is taken prisoner so therefore we will kill hundreds of Palestinians. It reminds me of the manner in which the Nazi's dealt with any resistance in the lands they occupied during WWII. If a German soldier was killed, they would round up a bunch of civilians and murder them.
The problem seems to be some notion of racial supremacy. To kill a Jew is the worst crime in the world whereas Palestinian deaths are of no consequence what-so-ever. Absolutely sickening.

RHys Jones, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University
16 May 2011 – Email: Rhys.Jones@monash.edu; Phone: +61 3 990 53809

RHYS,

I am curious as to why you are so obsessed with Israel?

Still no mention of Hamas and you have the nerve to talk about hypocrisy.

You have the wrong Rhys Jones. Its a common name. I live in Western Australia and am a mental health nurse.
I am not obsessed by Israel. I just find Injustice and hypocrisy abhorrent. I have followed this conflict very closely for the last ten years and so am not fooled by the Israeli claims of being the victims in this affair.
I am aware that there are many worse regimes in the world. However, Australia does not align itself with them. Rather we condemn them for their human rights abuses. Israel claims to be a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East. Yet it refuses to negotiate an end to its military occupation of the Palestinian territories. Our closest ally USA is also Israel's closest ally. Australia constantly provides moral support to Israel. We even honoured them in our parliament on their 60th anniversary of becoming a state. This is why it bothers me so much. We are complicit in the crimes of Israel in a manner in which we are not complicit in the crimes of any other nation.

Well said Rhys Jones although I might have issue with the notion that Australia's aiding and abetting of the brutal sanctions against Iraq doesn't qualify as a more egregious complicity in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

As anyone who has children would understand the family of this soldier must be going through a continuing hell and they deserve our sympathy. 

It is difficult though to see how Hamas can release him after Operation Cast Lead. To have given in to the slaughter of so many of their citizens including children would have only rewarded such savagery. Their only option is to stick to their original demands and if the Israeli government was really concerned enough they would comply.

Dear Elinor,

I note the corporal was captured around the time the Israeli Army was finally banned from using human shields.

One can only hope for Galid Shalit's parent's sake the Israeli government swallows some pride and organizes their son's return to them.

Some of the letters in support of Shalit’s release are understandable on compassionate grounds. At the minimum Shalit should be entitled to the rights of a prisoner of war as stipulated in the Geneva Convection. There is a problem here Israel doesn't recognize Shalit as such.

Furthermore Shalit is still alive and well. Every day at least one Palestinian is murdered by the “oh so brave IDF” who prey on unarmed women and children. I would wager that Shalit is eating sufficiently to remain fit unlike those in Gaza who are under siege and denied the basics.

As far as laws are concerned, Israel breaks international laws daily by its consistent expropriation of Palestinian land to build settlements. Or how about ethnic cleansing? In East Jerusalem Israel removed a Palestinian family from their home that had been in their family for centuries and gave it to some ex-social security recipient from Brooklyn who has just got off the boat. When rhe Palestinians seeking justice appealed to an Israeli court, the judges’ ruling was the very fact that the family from Brooklyn was Jewish transcended any other form of evidence of ownership of the house. Or how about the racist laws that are being passed in the Knesset in this so called "democratic" country of Israel that forbids Jews from renting living quarters to none Jews.

The Zionists in Palestine bear no similarity to the Jews I know. The Jews I know have a rich history of some of the most exceptional people who have contributed so much to humanity throughout the millenniums.

The Zionist of Israel only know death and destruction so at least Shalit should be satisfied that he isn’t a Palestinian and Hamas isn’t Zionist or he would have been dead five years ago.

Such a nice piece of racial sterotyping about Jews and Israelis Ulis and for many here who bash the Jewish State it's good to see that you've appointed yourselves judge, jury and executioner in much the same way as that goose stepping monster behaved 60-70 years ago.

The fact is that Hamas fired thousands of missiles at Israel before Shalit was kidnapped and before Operation Cast Lead, Hamas has admitted the majority of the victims were its own fighters, that many of the civilian deaths were Hamas human shields and every other country in the world would respond to its barbarism in the same way as they would also accord Shalit the basic human rights which apologists for Hamas here would not.

Whispering

"The fact is that Hamas fired thousands of missiles at Israel before Shalit was kidnapped and before Operation Cast Lead,..."

Sorry mate, that's not a fact. Israel and Hamas had a 6 month truce before Cast Lead. You can easily check the figures on the number of rockets and will find they had reduced to an insignificant number just before Cast Lead. Israel broke that truce and attacked Gaza. The logistics involved in the attack indicate that Israel was planning the attack at about the same time it was signing the truce.

It is a matter of public record that the majority of victims were civilians who were blocked into Gaza with nowhere to shelter and nowhere to run to. It was a massacre.

This thread is one of clearest indications to-date that the Israel-Palestine madness is un-solveable.

It could be solved with a One-State solution. It is clear that Israel will not negotiate in good faith. It is clear that the Zionist project is to take over all the land from the River Jordan to the sea as a home for the Jews - i.e. a racist state.

A One-State solution would provide a home for the Palestinians and the Jews, but of course it would have to be truly democratic and non-racist. The Jews must learn that they cannot have an apartheid system and a racist state.

I am a relief worker and have just returned from Gaza and find most of the posts illinformed offensive and plainly bias and agenda driven.
Firstly currently the Red Cross and 11 other Human Rights organisations are demanding Hamas allow them access to the Kidnapped soldier and proof that he is alive.
Hamas have ignored all the norms of warfare by refusing to allow REd Cross access , even the Nazis in WW2 allowed the REd Cross confirmation as to wether prisoners were alive or dead.
I spent at least 2 weeks in Gaza and mixed with many other relief workers and I what I have experienced is a conflict between the Palestinian factions and the serious mistreatment of Palestinian Christians and obvious bias against non Muslims.
It is common knowledge that the Palestinian militants fire their rockets form within civllian areas in the hope that Israel fire will kill civillians to help their PR in the international community.
I also travelled to Israeli Jerusalem and spoke with many Israeli-Arabs who overwhelmingly all agree they would much prefer to live under Israel governemnt than any Palestinian/Arab government. We can see now with the Arab spring, no doubt Libyan , Syrian Egyptian or Tunisian Arabs would be happy to like their free Israel- Arab brothers and sisters.
It appears to me the Israel-Palestinian conflict is fuelled by hatred of Jews by the Islamic/Arab world and we have seen the hatred between SUnNi and Shea Muslims and racsist treatment of Christians and non Muslims . It is partly a religious war Muslims dont want Jews or Non believers in their part of the world that there is no doubt.
In my Opinion as long as Hamas is in POower the problem will never be solved .

Gilad Shalit's plight does bring to mind another Israeli who was kidnapped and spent twice as long as Gilad in solitary confinement and was only released after 18 years, one Mordechai Vanunu.

Extended solitary confinement is indeed a deeply inhuman thing to do to a person.

For a man that has just returned from Israel seeking an audience with Gilad you don't know too much. Israel doesn't recognize Gilat as a prisoner of war that is the first point. The second point is that Hamas isn't bound by the terms of the Geneva conference as it isn't a signatory. Third I wonder if you spent much time taking care of the thousands of uncharged Palestinians who are in Israeli jails. I don.t believe a word you have written as I am familiar with the Red Cross it helps the Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon as a result of ethnic cleansing by Israel. The Red Cross is a much respected apolitical organization you are neither.

Ulis it is irrelevant wether you believe what any one writes on this website, I do agree with you that the Red Cross do great work I do not work for the Red Cross I am a volunteer that works for a NGO .
Judging by your over the top advocacy for the Palestinians and seemingly hatred for the Jews and Israel you are obviously too close to the subject to be taken as a serious analyst

I did make a mistake about the Red Cross and 11 Human rights groups there are 12 Huamnrights groups that are demanding Hamas act compassion.. see below there are other sources as well to verify

See also Twelve Human Rights Groups to Hamas: Allow Red Cross to See Shalit <http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=226406> - Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post)

An apology would be accepeted.

Thanks Ray for your input and on the ground observation that most wise analysts would agree with , after all that's why Israel has so much support including from Australian both sides of the house.

I think many here have gone off the track the issue is GIlad Shalit .
The Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Jails are there because they have targeted civilians they are clearly terrorists and belong in Jail.
It is irrelevant whether Hamas is a signatory to anything they are a bunch of Thugs who ignore everyone's human rights including their fellow Palestinians Christian and Fatah members included.
I agree with Ray as long as the Palestinians choose to have a Islamist Mafia leadership who repeatably say they will never abide by the UN 1948 Charter [181 ?] One state for the Arabs One state for the Jews the Israeli/Palestinian,ARab , Muslim conflict will never be resolved .
Israel should build the security barrier higher and longer and let the Palestinians fight amongst them selves.

Well said Ray.

I am both amazed and disturbed at the hate and vitriol from the anti-Israel lobby. They are clearly uninformed or worse, understand that they are peddling falsehoods but remain happy with their racism.

If you scratch an anti-Zionist deep enough you are sure to find an anti-Semite.

Dear Ulis,

From Ray's post it is pretty easy to discern he wasn't from Red Cross, that kind of attitude only comes from a conservative or even fundamentalist Christian take on things.

Dear Burdy,

You problem is the world just isn't buying that kind of tripe it once did. I am ashamed I was one of those who had very fulsome support for Israel long past what the evidence should have permitted

You know the issue isn't how high the security fence is rather the amount of radical settlers Israel continues to turf over the other side of it.

As to who are the bigger thugs, it is probably a toss up, but Israel wins the bully stakes by a country mile.

As to the Palestinians ignoring the Geneva Convention please don't make me throw up.

From the BBC; "Israel is a party to the Geneva Conventions, and bound by its obligations.
But its government argues that the international conventions relating to occupied land do not apply to the Palestinian territories because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state in the first place.
Israel has over the years often chosen to use the term administered territories to refer to Gaza and the West Bank. It has annexed the Golan and East Jerusalem.
Israel therefore denies the formal, de jure, applicability of the 4th Geneva Convention in the occupied territories."

The spin of your ilk no longer has the currency it once did. The world is waking up. We should have done so much sooner.

Dear Ben Derusai,

That kind of comment isn't even offensive any more, it is just tiresome.

Thank you Ray Walker for telling us the truth on the ground in Gaza. Many think they know what is happening there but few are knowledgeable of the facts.
I would be really interested in getting more information on your experiences in Israel / Gaza. Is it available online, do you have a blog?

Dear csteele,
In your rush to criticise the Israeli government, you excuse Hamas' inhumane conduct. Gilad's return has nothing to do with Israel swallowing its pride; 2 years ago Israel released 20 Palestinians just in exchange for a videotape of Gilad!
I wonder if you even understand what that means - 2 years ago...How much have you experienced and accomplished in the last 2 years? Gilad has had that freedom stripped away from him and you can be sure he is not being accorded any basic rights in captivity.
Hamas has a well documented agenda of inflicting psychological warfare on Israelis, to maintain a constant threat of terror. That is why when an Israeli soldier is kidnapped it's considered a fate worse than death.

Dear Elinor,

The equation should be easy then. Let the Israelis and the Palestinians return the same proportion of each others prisoners.

For instance 50% of those Israelis held by the Palestinians should be swapped with 50% of the Palestinians held by Israel.

Or perhaps it could be done on the basis of how long a prisoner on either side has spent in solitary confinement. Start releasing the longest and stop after we get past Gilad.

I really would like to see him free but to use his predicament to beat up solely on Hamas while painting Israel as blameless just doesn't wash. 

Humanity should be requested, expected and given by both sides but continuing demonization will make this extraordinarily difficult. Might be time to give it a rest and plead the case on its merits alone which I would have thought were strong.

Dear Ulis,

"Finally Gilad Shalit is a professional soldier"

No - Gilad is a conscript.

This means that he was kidnapped twice: the first time when his only "crime" was to reach the age of 18 in relative health. The second time, because he was stationed by his first kidnappers at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Does this not remind you of women (in Muslim countries too, is this not a coincidence?) that are either stoned to death, flogged and/or imprisoned for being raped?

Note that Israel has no allowance for conscientious objectors or anything like that. If you refuse to go to the army at the age of 18, then you are sent to jail for a month or two and once released you are asked again to go to the army. If you keep refusing then you will be imprisoned again and again and possibly spend your life in jail until you are 55.

If Gilad were an officer, then I might have had second thoughts, because officers in the Israeli army must voluntarily sign for extra time, but Gilad was just a 19-year old corporal when kidnapped the second time, as almost every Israeli soldier is automatically promoted to the rank of corporal after about 6-12 months of service.

A child was kidnapped from his parents' home. Twice. Then he is not even allowed to communicate with his family, now for 5 whole years. Can anyone's reaction be other than pain, shock and horror? shame on those who use this poor child for their international-political agenda.

I have no hopes in either Hamas or Netanyahu, but as Gilad is also a French citizen, I do expect France to do much more to release him, exerting ruthless pressure on both sides until Gilad is released. Let us all pray for Gilad to be safely back with his family.

Stan1 who supports the so called One State solution (i.e. the Hamas solution) you are wrong. Hamas never observed the truce in the six months leading up to Operation Cast Lead. The figures show there was a reduction of attacks but hardly a day went by without it committing the war crime of firing missiles at Israeli civilian targets. Further, Hamas announced in the days before Operation Cast Lead that the ceasefire was over and increased the number of rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

In addition, apologists for the barbarian Hamas regime often claim Israel breached the "cease fire" by attacking six terrorists on 4 November 2008. They conveniently omit to mention that these terrorists were attempting to infiltrate the border in an attempt to capture or kill more Israeli soldiers like Gilad Shalit.

It seems to me that the only way to sustain an argument in favour of a regime like Hamas whose Covenant mandates genocide against the Jews is with the use of brazen lies.

Elinor, no I don't have a blog. I have been working for NGO's for years and have been to Gaza twice. Unfortunately I am a bit disillusioned with the Politics now intrenched in the managemnet and staff of NGO unless you are Pro Palestinian and anti American , anti- Israel you are the odd person out .I have the attitude perhaps naivly that we should all be A- Political and that no matter what Muslim -Jew - Christian Israeli or Arab we should treat everyone with the same compassion but that is far from what is reality and the hatred for Israel by most who I work with is dissapointing.

GENEVA, June 23 | Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:48am EDT

GENEVA, June 23 (Reuters) - The Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants nearly five years ago, is alive

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/palestinians-israel-idUSLDE75M0HU20110623

The Palestinians want to have it both ways they don't want their leadership Hamas to be a signatory to any Geneva conventions or to be responsible to any International obligations { let oalne Morality] yet they want the same conventions , UN and International community to help them.

Dear Ray,

You refer to a nearly universal condemnation of the actions of Israel by other NGOs (hatred is a touch overblown but used extensively by pro-Israel opinion givers), but I'm wondering if it doesn't ever prompt you to question the validity of your own stand?

I mean if you are the odd man out in the NGO field then perhaps that might be telling you something.

If you are the same Ray Walker as this one then I understand how hard it might be;

"Ray has extensive experience in the Christian sector. After 25 years in tourism and hospitality, he spent eight years as National Operations Manager for World Vision Australia, followed by senior leadership positions at Sports Chaplaincy Australia, Focus on the Family Australia, RTK Corporate and Festival Victoria with Franklin Graham 2005. Most recently, Ray has been Development Manager at Evangelical Alliance,".

To paraphrase your remarks to Ulis; 'Judging by your over the top advocacy for the israelis and seemingly entrenched conservative Christian mindset, you are obviously too close to the subject to be taken as a serious analyst'.

If you are a different Mr Walker I apologize.

My father-in-law is a fundamentalist Christian but even he has the good grace to acknowledge his unswerving support for Israel as his 'weakness' dictated by his faith.

Dear Burdy,

Since you seem quite knowledgable on the subject can you tell me of the fate of the two brothers kidnapped by an Israeli commando incursion into Gaza the day before the taking of Gilad? Their names are Osama and Mustafa Muamar.

The raid occurred at 3:30 am and their father was blindfolded and beaten in the raid. It was the first taking of Palestinian civilians in a full year following the handing back of Gaza.

You might need to enlighten me if you consider the Israeli kidnapping of the Maumar brothers legal while that of Gilad illegal. If so why?

Also tackling a tank with RPGs is I would have thought a touch braver than beating a handcuffed and blindfolded father with rifle butts. What do you think?

I feel if the victims of the original kidnapping that ignited  this whole sorry mess have been released then the victim of the revenge kidnapping, Gilad, has a case for due consideration.

Dear Elinor,

I did note you neglected to mention the 20 Palestinians who were freed in exchange for a DVD of Gilad were women. 

This was in line with Hama's original demand; "Shalit's captors issued a statement on Monday, 26 June 2006, offering information on Shalit if Israel agreed to release all female Palestinian prisoners and all Palestinian prisoners under the age of 18, who were held without charges and tried without the right of defense."

Was your omission willful because it might have shed a more favorable light on Hamas or was it ignorance?

Do you think it was an unreasonable request by Hamas?

Csteele you are getting tiresome and I am getting bored with your Palestinian propaganda.
If only you and your Palestinian lobbyist friends would spend as much time trying to convince your people to stop fighting with each other and elect a young leader that is not a Islamist fanatic and would like his/her country to be like Israel , where no matter what religion you can enter parliament and have a say and where life not martyrdom is more popular.

Please read this information and you may learn something, this will be my last post on this subject.

http://walloflies.org/

Dear Burdy,

You are a very funny man.

You accuse me of propaganda? You really have no shame my friend. 

Lol.

And the use of the word 'tiresome' is just plain plagiarism, go find your own adjectives.

I do note you felt no need to challenge any of the facts I have presented. And thankfully I have not yet earned the tag anti-Semite from you. 

My understanding is that 2/3rds of Israelis want the government to accede to Hamas'  deal to release Gilad.

One of those likely to be part of any deal is Marwan Bargouti who had been touted as a possible future leader of the Palestinians.

From Wikipedia;

"Since Barghouti's arrest, many of his supporters have campaigned for his release. They include prominent Palestinian figures, members of European Parliament and the Israeli group Gush Shalom. Israel's Haaretz newspaper wrote that Barghouti "is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanize a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel."

There are many different opinions on what would constitute a fair swap. It will be interesting to see which one prevails, hopefully sooner rather than later.

cteele I believe you are quite correct of your assumption of the release of Marwan Barghouti who is the most popular Palestinian leader today.

He was fundamental in the first and second intifada and believed in passive resistance to all the illegalities that Israel is known for. Unfortunately the Israelis picked him up arrested him on charges of murder and he is currently serving two life sentences.

He would make an ideal Palestinian President and he doesn't have blood on his hands, he isn't a terrorist and he isn't corrupt. Israel saw the danger that a well educated and charismatic man with a vision for the future of Palestine and made him a target.

I'm sure he is the major stumbling block in getting Shalit released. Hamas and Israel appear to have made an agreement on the prisoners to be released but Israel has demanded that some are immediately exiled. Hamas has agreed to several but stops at all that Israel wants exiled. I'm sure you'll find Marwan is the most important prisoner in Israeli hands and want him exiled which Hamas finds unacceptable.

Which group of fanatics? The ones here?

These charmers want us to accept we live in Asia, that we are part thereof, yet would also have us ignore that accepting that fact brings obligations?

I'm heartily sick and tired of the weak-willed, gutless nature of a large number of "Australian's" nowadays. They are willing to abandon any number of people, who despite having made very clear that they want our assistance in determining their own future, should (according to them) be thrown on the scrap heap in favor of running after extremist loons. This Country is free, yes. Those freedoms were bought at great cost by better people than those posting here.

I'm not anti-religion, I am vehemently opposed to extremists of any religion, who would destroy the lives of others based upon their sick reading of textbooks. I am vehemently opposed to these sick-nutjobs repressing others, killing them, determining what they can and cannot do, etc. That is what freedom is built upon, the fundamental freedom to say/do as one pleases, as long as in doing so you do not unfairly impinge upon the freedoms/rights of others.

That mindset is shared by a lot of soldiers in the ADF (and the IDF), like Mr Shalit. Should it be inferred that our soldiers (and the Scottish soldier executed yesterday) equally "deserve" whatever comes to them?

If you would say so, you have abandoned any right/freedom you may ever have had claim to with relation to this Country and citizenship thereof. Please leave voluntarily

"That mindset is shared by a lot of soldiers in the ADF (and the IDF), like Mr Shalit."

It would have been good if membership in the IDF required a certain mindset, but no - Gilad Shalit is a conscript, nobody asked him what his mindset is before he was snapped from his parents' home by the army. His sole "crime" was to reach the age of 18 in sound health.

And to go out on patrol... If he'd 'chosen' to register as a conshy he'd still be alive

"If he'd 'chosen' to register as a conshy he'd still be alive"

Ah sure, Israel does not recognize such things as "conshys", so short of Jesus how many 18 year olds do you know who are willing to spend 37 years in jail for their principles?

Dear Yuyutsu,

I sort of get that all Israelis over 18 (excepting the ultra orthodox) are trained to kill Palestinians but 37 years for objecting to do so? I'm finding it hard to believe. Can you give any examples?

Dear Custard,

You wrote; "I'm not anti-religion, I am vehemently opposed to extremists of any religion, who would destroy the lives of others based upon their sick reading of textbooks. I am vehemently opposed to these sick-nutjobs repressing others, killing them, determining what they can and cannot do, etc. That is what freedom is built upon, the fundamental freedom to say/do as one pleases, as long as in doing so you do not unfairly impinge upon the freedoms/rights of others."

I wasn't sure if you were referring to Iraeli settlers of Hamas extremists, perhaps both?

Dear Csteele,

If one refuses to go the army, they are jailed for 1-2 months, then told to enlist again. In theory, this can be repeated indefinitely until they are released on the grounds of age, at 55. In practice, chances are that they will be released earlier on some health grounds. In any case, once someone is in their mid 30's it's very unlikely that they will be trained to kill: they would rather be sent to some military support job (clerk, mechanic, driver, cook, store-keeper, cleaner, etc). In the past it was popular to send such people to clear mine-fields...