Disposable war fodder

Submitted by B. Kramer (United States), Jul 27, 2013 at 22:30

Back in 2008, Hamas turned down an Isreali offer to release 350 prisoners for Gilad Schalit, thereby publicly devaluing the life of a Palestinian to 1/4 of a percent of an Israeli's. By eventually accepting 1,027 prisoners as the minimum for the exchange, they in effect devalued their brother Palestinians to 1/10 of a percent, or practically nothing. They would rather have 1,000 Palestinians live in jail. Their lives are merely cheap and disposable war fodder.

Yet by Israel submitting to such a deal, Israel likewise proclaims that an Israeli is so valuable, that capturing one will become every terrorist's goal. It puts all soldiers and citizens at greater risk, giving terrorists an incentive. Such deals, whether giving land, money, or war prisoners, has never been accepted as a goodwill gesture by anyone besides our presidents, whose only aim was to get publicity and votes.

Arabs, however, see it as an act of submission and weakness by Israel. It's equivalent to Israel feeding sharks or bears, hoping to domesticate them. While it plays well on TV or wins political points today, it's just a band-aid covering a problem that can only get worse. There's no logic to it, only emotion.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".