Comments on: Negotiating for Prisoners in Israel

By: fromtheauthor

fromtheauthor — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:07:08 +0000

Dear iLgiz,
I appreciate your response, but I am very disappointed that you did not understand my article. In response to the “starvation of 1.5 million Gazans” I believe there is no other to accuse but Hamas. Israel has been one of the top donors of food and aid to Gaza, even though as of 2005, it has completely withdrawn from Gaza. Why are Gazans still starving? Why is Israel the only one being held accountable, when the Rafah border crossing has existed all along? Could it possibly be because Hamas has placed these necessities on the black market and provides resources only to a select few? It is unfortunate that so many innocent civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, have become victims of Hamas’ tireless campaign. That said, one life lost is just of a tragedy to Israel as hundreds—every life is valuable. Which leads me to ask, would it make it right if 10,000 Israelis were captured to equate the 10,000 imprisoned Palestinians? Gilad Shalit is of no threat to the Palestinian people; these 10,000 you mentioned, however, are.
Israel is blessed enough to have an established army to protect its citizens. This is a duty of any country and I do not see any reason why Israel should apologize for that. I sympathize with the innocent Palestinians who do not enjoy such a privilege, but unfortunately this is the price that is paid when a militant power insists on relentlessly attacking others, instead of providing for their own.
Yes, the imprisoned Palestinians are a majority civilians; however, this is exactly what Hamas and its militants are comprised of. The imprisoned have in fact been a threat to Israel, for they are responsible for using children as human shields, throwing Quassam rockets into southern Israel, and housing terrorists. I encourage you to view a few of these links: http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1304 , http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Hamas+exploitation+of+civilians+as+human+shields+-+Photographic+evidence.htm, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQQFJXMrg4. I sympathize with these Palestinians, who are often forced into committing such horrifying acts. But to every action, there is a reaction, and these individuals should accept the consequences to their actions. It is time that religion cease to be the driving force behind war. We should all simply learn to accept each other, despite our differences.
I am by no means saying that anyone is perfect, including Israel. On the other hand, Israel in particular has reflected on its actions and has been able to take responsibility when required. Others, sadly, cannot and continue to ignore their wrongdoings. In addition, I would strongly suggest broadening your views to all perspectives and checking numerous legitimate resources before jumping to conclusions. Lastly, I truly believe and hope that we will see peace in the near future, where children of the next generations will enjoy a middle east without war.

By: iLgiz

iLgiz — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:12:57 +0000

to the guy hiding behind the name of the Rightly-Guided Khalif:
it seems your hatred of Muslims have blinded you to the point that you deny to us a right to exist as we see it fit. Of course, you are not alone in your hatred, for there many hate mongers who say such blatantly racist things about Muslims, that had they been uttered against any other minority, it would cause an outcry.
as long as the West, headed by US as the global gendarme, continues to occupy Muslim nations and continues to prop up petty tyrants and emergency presidents, Muslims of the world have an absolute right as human beings to resist the neocolonial subjugation called “war on terror”

By: iLgiz

iLgiz — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:52:57 +0000

I would rather apologize for my criticism in the beginning, so I am sorry, but this piece of forced student composition completely lacks any objectivity or any feeling of genuine compassion for the fate of Gilad Shalit. Rather, his detention is used by Israel as an excuse to continue the imprisonment and starvation of 1.5 million of Gazans. While Palestinians hold in captivity one Israeli, there are over 10,000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli dungeons. And if legally Gilad Shalit is a prisoner of war, overwhelming majority of imprisoned Palestinians are civilians who have nothing to do with militant groups and consist mostly of peace activists, women, adolescents and teenagers, and just simple people of the street. Their crime is not that they constitute a threat to Israel’s security, for this overused argument has no basis as Israel has no right to occupy or administer what is legally Palestinian land. The crime of these innocent people is that they engage in non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation and oppression, and through their resistance they are far more dangerous to the Zionism project than all of the rocket arsenals of Hamas and Hezbollah combined.

By: John

John — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:40:34 +0000

So, what you’re saying is, 1 Israeli life = 100s of Palestinian lives? What about the foreign human rights observers from the US, Czech Republic, and elsewhere that were illegally arrested by Oz and IDF inside Palestinian territory? Ryan Olander, an American, was arrested in a nighttime raid, and had his visa revoked for allegedly happened the following day, while he was detained.

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:10:43 +0000

Excellent editorial.

It is interesting to note how many of the released Guantanamo Islamists have gone back to waging Jihad against the west. Many have.

No doubt the same thing will happen if Israel releases the Islamists held in its prisons. They know no trades other than hatred. They were raised on hatred –vidoes depicting Jews and Americans and non-Muslims as vile creatures– and it’s not as if they’ll become peaceful carpenters upon their release.