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Gilad Shalit Returns: One Israeli for 1,027 Palestinians?
(Washington Post) Brad Hirschfield - Gilad Shalit has been returned to Israel after more than five years in Hamas captivity - years in which his family was given no news of his condition and years in which his captors observed no internationally recognized humanitarian standards. In Gaza, handing over 1,027 Palestinians for a single Israeli is seen as a fool's bargain. And in Israel there are those who claim that this trade makes the next kidnapping that much more likely. But people sworn to your destruction don't need any further incentives to kill you. And the fighters being returned in exchange for Shalit are a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of others who are already willing to engage in mass murder. This conflict is a generational conflict and, as such, it will take generations to resolve. The writer is President of CLAL - The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.