How the opportunities to free Gilad Schalit were squandered

Frimet Roth
This Ongoing War: A Blog
24 June '10

The Gaza blockade provided a potentially effective negotiating tool. But when was it used as serious leverage for the captured soldier’s return? Oddly, never.

By now you shouldn’t be left wondering. When the Israeli media and politicians promise that Gilad Schalit will be freed “at any cost,” it is crystal clear what they mean. They should not be taken literally.

Instead, they are asserting that the release of convicted murderers must not be allowed to impede Schalit’s return home. Other safer, saner options for rescuing him are not even up for discussion. The Gaza blockade, for example, provides a potentially effective negotiating tool. But when has it been used as serious leverage for Schalit’s return? Oddly, never.

And why not? True, the blockade has brought censure and isolation in large doses. But all that pales beside the damage we will surely suffer if we release hordes of unrepentant imprisoned terrorists.

After the intense international outrage over the flotilla attack two weeks ago, the blockade is fast disintegrating. On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, under pressure from our allies, has already decided to relax it and appears poised to open our land border with Gaza entirely.

The only halfhearted use that has been made of the blockade in relation to Schalit has been to request that most basic right due to captives but still withheld by Hamas: Red Cross visits.

Last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman assumed a tough tone on that point: “The minimal condition for lifting the blockade is for the Red Cross to be allowed to regularly visit Gilad Schalit,” he stated. “As long as this condition is not fulfilled, there is no reason to change the situation.”

But after four years of captivity, Red Cross visits are a pathetically mousy request. Freedom, and nothing less, is what we should be demanding.

(Read full article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.