Gilad Shalit Freed! (Is it now all good in the hood?)

Yesterday, Gilad Shalit, an Israeli solider who has been held hostage in the Gaza strip for five years was finally released and reunited with his family. Shalit, a 19 year old tank crewman, was kidnapped during a Hamas border raid in 2006. This is a huge moral victory for all Israelis young and old, because every family has been affected by this saga. Israel has a policy of conscription and every man and woman are expected to serve in the army and every mother and farther must send their children to serve in the army. The Israeli government promises to protect all its soldiers fighting for their country and if actions speak loader than words, freeing Shalit surely proves the governments commitment to this pledge right? Yes and No.

Yes:
-Israel has been given a very hard bargain. The government has agreed to free Shalit in exchange for freeing over 1000 convicted Palestinian terrorists. This agreement alone demonstrates Israels commitment to protecting those serving in their armed forces. The terrorists Israel is releasing all have Israeli blood on their hands and although, Shalit's family are over joyed to have Gilad back in the their life's, there are many families today in Israel grieving over this swap. The murderers being released are not paying the full price for killing peoples sons, daughters, mothers, fathers etc. Many of these terrorists targeted and killed Israeli civilians, some being children. This is such a controversial move by the Israeli government that the swap prompted the Prime Minister to send a letter to each a the suffering families. The letter assured that family that it was a hard bargain to make, that he understands their sacrifice and ends the letters saying that 'Israel will continue to fight terrorism". This kind of swap is nothing new in Israeli politics, but this time there is so much more to it.

NO:
- Gilad Shalit has been in captivity for FIVE YEARS. Two different governments have tired to secure his release and have failed until now. In fairness, all involved have worked tirelessly to secure a deal on Shalit's release, Prime Minister Olmert was very close before he resigned. However, this weeks "swap" is all political. Prime Minister Netanyahu is more unpopular than ever in Israel and Hamas have been suffering since Abbas ignored their objections and went to the UN. This Netanyahu- Hamas switch is as much a moral victory for both groups and it is a PR victory.
Netanyahu will be remembered as a hero who went against impossible odds to protect one of the most famous Israelis. Hamas have proven to be the most effective collation partners as its seem that Abbas's push to become a state at the UN appears to have backfired with the current resolution making them only an observers state. This swap could have happened anytime in the last five years and similar proposals have been on the table many times before. It is important to ask Mr Netanyahu why he decided to ratify the agreement last week.

The release of Gilad Shalit is a good thing, Israel soldiers should know the lengths their government will go to protect them and bring them home. The Israeli government has proved this commitment over and over again in the past. The risk is whether this exchange means that Hams will seek a new policy of actively kidnapping Israelis to conduct similar swaps and whether or not the over 1000 released terrorists will resort to return to the type of terrorism and even murder they were arrested for. I think not, or not so quickly. The negotiations were brokered by Egypt. Egypt has new leverage over Hamas, Hamas is moving its headquarters for Damascus to Ciro due to dissatisfaction with the way Assad (their former Allie) has dealt with the uprising. For the time being, Egypt will seek to keep Hamas at bay, while Hamas themselves try to gain political momentum from this swap both domestically and internationally. The terrorists may attempt of return to their previous occupations, but have no doubt that every man and woman released is going to be watched like a hawk by the Israeli security forces.

- Roy