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.