After 5 years in Jail, Gilad Shalit may return home.

[Ori83]

For the ones of you who dont know who Gilad Shalit is, he is an Israeli soldier that held captive for the last 5 years by Hamas after being captured in a military operation.
in those 5 years Israeli citizens knew no rest and demented to bring him back at any price, the Israeli government and hamas didnt come to a reasonable agreement until last week,
I wish not to talk about the political aspect please, i dont want this to drag into that, so please respect my request if you may.

its a big day here, the day he will return! hopefully alive and in once piece!
i wish all the best to his family, and wish that EVERY soldier (!!) doesnt matter who he is (even Hamas soldiers) will return safely home with no blood on their hands. hopefully we will know peace in that region soon.

(link: Gilad Shalit on Wiki )

there is one thing id like to open a discussion and hear your voices!

What is YOUR take about negotiating captive soldiers? should governments negotiate their release baring in mind it will only encourage MORE kidnapping of live soldiers? or no negotiations at all? maybe you support only freeing soldiers via undercover military ops? or an extent extreme reaction (like even going into war?) how do YOU think is the best way to deal with captive soldiers?

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

 

[finfighter]

It's great to hear he's coming home, congrats from the US!

 

[HughJass]

5 years is a long time to be in captivity. Shalit was used as pawn by Netanyahu. The Israeli government should have negotiated a release way earlier instead of all the stupid chest beating which most people knew they would eventually back down on anyway.

I don't know if it will necessarily encourage Hamas to capture more soldiers. The biggest incentive for Hamas to try it again is the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners that Israel has in it's prisons.The best way to prevent either side from using these kinds of tactics to begin with is to just settle the underlying conflict.

Warring parties should always negotiate the release of their POWs. All the 'we won't negotiate' stuff is just face saving and brinkmanship from the people who don't actually fight the wars. Why not just back down after 5 weeks rather than 5 years? Nothing could be worth abandoning somebody for that amount of time....

 

[The Gardener]

I hope he is allowed to return home, and SOON. This is good news.

 

[Aplunk1]

This story seems like the flavor of the week to me.

Only difference is that the two parties seemed to have communicated for once.

 

[barcafan]

who gives a sh*t? this is one soldier, and it's a war. just intended to get you angry at the "enemy". pure nonsense.

 

[Hammy070]

On a human level, anyone being released back to their families is good news.

On a political level - it was timed to make Netanyahu look good at a time when social unrest was at breaking point, culminating in the protests in Israel earlier this year.

On my level - the math speaks - 1 Israeli = 1000 Palestinians (number of prisoners released in exchange.)

Which is good and bad news for both:

GOOD:

IDF: Being alive is worth more than dead.
PLO: We just need 1.

BAD

IDF: They just need 1.
PLO: Our lives are worth less.

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I hope, in the long term - 1 Israeli = 1 Palestinian.