Negotiating with terrorists – Israel between a rock and a hard place

During the game of “chicken” that has been the kidnapping, and negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, I found myself wondering if the women and children being  held in Israeli jails were not terrorists, why were they being held?  This weekend, I found a column on the Jerusalem Post’s website, by Barbara Sofer, which gave an insight to the reasons the women are being held, that I have not found elsewhere. The whole column gives a very interesting insight into life in Israel, in the face of repeated attacks, kidnappings and attempted kidnappings of “settlers” (like the fact that they are “just settlers” somehow marks them as fair game for terror), and the like. It gives a brief glimpse into the “Prisoner’s Letter” that has been going around the internet, that projects the view that, somehow, Corporal Shalit’s kidnapping was justified by the continued imprisonment of Palestinians, and in which the alleged author compares her father’s imprisonment to the Israeli soldier’s kidnapping. Then it gives a glimpse of the reasons for the imprisonment of some  women, whose transgressions are never hinted at when they are mentioned, like pawns in a chess game, as ransom for the kidnapped soldier.

In the Neveh Tirza women’s prison, for example, you’ll find Ahlan Tanimi, who brought the bomb that murdered 16 in the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem. You’ll also find Kahira Sa’adi, a mother of four who drove a terrorist to King George Avenue, where he blew up three people. She has expressed her eagerness to do it again.

Others are wannabe Wafa Idris, who blew herself up on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, or Hanady Jaradats, who killed 21 in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. Even the non-feminists among us will probably agree that these prisoners deserve equal punishment.

This leads me to believe that, no matter what else he gets wrong or right, Ehud Olmert is spot on when he says that Israel will not, and cannot, negotiate with terrorist, no matter how precious the prize.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went on a fiery offensive in Sunday’s cabinet meeting, aggressively defending the “graduated and measured” IDF action in Gaza, telling Sderot officials to start showing leadership, and sticking up for last summer’s Gaza disengagement.

In addition, he dismissed suggestions made Friday by his own Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter that Israel should consider releasing security prisoners to free Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

Olmert rebuffed criticism that the IDF was not being tough enough in Gaza, saying the army would employ a number of different methods there.

“There is no intention to reoccupy Gaza,” he said, “but there is a need for ground action.” He added that Israel “will continue to act – to go in and come out as needed. There will not be only one mode of operation.

"It is clear this will be a long, complex war," Olmert said, adding that he did not want to set out a timetable for the operation.

As The Needle Bends

Technorati Tags: Life and Ramblings, Gilad Shalit, Ehud Olmert, Israel, Hamas, IDF, Wafa Idris, Hanady Jaradats, Sbarro pizza bombing, Kahira Sa’adi, Kidnapping of Israeli settlers, War, Gaza, Avi Dichter, Sderot