Where is Gilad Shalit?
For an extensive feature, the U.K. Times sends reporter Christine Toomey to the Gaza Strip in search of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar says nobody from Hamas knows where Shalit is. Top Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef warns Toomey against asking too many questions about Shalit ("People get suspicious," he says). Abu Khatab Doghmush, a clan leader, says the Kassam Brigades have Shalit and that he is treated well – a claim echoed by the spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees. The Kassam Brigades refuse to speak to Toomey.
The only thing Toomey seems certain of is that she's getting the runaround. She writes:
To travel into the Gaza Strip is to enter into a heart of darkness in the Middle East. The pain and hatred of those I will meet there does little to inspire hope of a happy outcome to the hostage situation. The raw power-mongering of Palestinian politicians and the militant factions I encounter is matched by the cold calculations of Israel's leaders, who have worked out the exact price they are prepared to pay to secure Shalit's release. In the face of this cynical standoff, Shalit's family is left in agonising limbo.
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It’s time for the Palestinian people to realize that hostage-taking is a loathsome crime commited by criminals not by “freedom fighters”. These criminals are treating Gilad Shalit like a slave or an animal. They try to sell him to the highest bidder. What a disgusting behaviour, you can’t set a price on a human being!!!! This is the inhuman face of islamic fundamentalism.
If the Palestinian people continues to approve war crimes like hostage-taking it will lose all sympathy in the western world.
It’s time for European leaders to wake up and stop transferring money to corrupt Palestinian policiticians who support criminal organizations.
It seems there is no future for the diplomatic methods for therelease of Gilad Shalit.
It’s about time other means of pressure have to be used. USA and other allied Nations have had a lot of experience in using all sorts of methods to release captured persons. In Israel’s past they too were
experts in carrying out daring release of their citizens. What seems to be lacking is the “sincere initiative” by the leaders of theIsrael government. This in turn is seen as ‘weakness’ by the enemies of Israel. Not to mention a sense of demoralization from within.
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Faisal Assegaf
09/17/08 01:24 AM
Shalit’s Price
It’s time for Israeli government to realize that Shalit’s price is very high. So, the next Israeli Prime Minister must accelerate the prisoner swap deal.
Obviously, they have to accept all Hamas demands, included Marwan Barghuti as a price for Salit release.
Faisal Assegaf
Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.hamaslovers.wordpress.com