I feel HUGE amounts of sympathy and sadness with the Shalit family and Shalit in particular... But the fact remains that 1,400 people is ALOT for just 1... and this WILL strenghten HAMAS's perception on the streets greatly. Worse is that from then on, in the futureevery time someone is captured in war, kidnapped... etc. demands will be even higher

There is no honor in targeting and killing innocent women and children, and using children as human shields. The only prisoner swap should be body bags of Pal terrorists. Nothing more, nothing less.

Everything written here is certain true - of Hamas - of any terror group. They need attention and conflict to survive - which is why Arafat fumbled in 2000 when he found himself turning from terror chief to statesman. Hamas knows very well that once Shalit is released, pure hell will be released upon them making Gaza War look like a picnic. Wile 1400 may look like a lot, it's easy to keep the borders closed in order to liquidate them pretty quickly.

As a neutral observer I can notice Israel is indeed giving in to Palestinian" extortionist " tactics. For long Israel adhered to its position of not to negotiate with "terrorists" ,with the one & only early exception of summer 1968 when Palestinians hijacked an El Al Boeing707 & forced it to land in Algeria.Israel's IAF did not have the capabilities to reach a distant country in north Africa & consequently Israel agreed to release some Palestinian prisoners in return for the safe return of its airliner & its passengers. Israel was all too willing to sacrifice its citizens rather than give in to Palestinian extortion (terrorists" blackmail) : during the 1972 XX Olympics in Munich,West Germany,Israel stubbornly refused to make a deal with Black September organization & had to pay a dear price for its refusal.Eleven Israeli athletes got shot dead in the midst of the Olympic Games. Similarly Israel's stubbornness made the Jewish State pay dearly following the 1973 Yom Kippur War when all its IDF was serving in the Syrian & Egyptian fronts : PLO elements infiltrated from Lebanon into northern Israel & held scores of Israeli school students in Kiryat Shmona,& later in Ma'alot, & shortly thereafter shot them dead when IDF elements tried to storm the place where both sides were hiding.More Israeli citizens got killed in other hostage dramas in Gonen,Fassuta,Nahariya,& Tel Aviv in 1974 also. But Israel's policy of sacrificing its own citizens rather than negotiate with the PLO proved not to the liking of the Israeli people.Despite Israel's rare & stunning luck in freeing its hostages held in Uganda,Africa, in July 1976 PLO violent & ruthless attacks against Israeli civilians continued brazenly & reached the climax when a team of PLO elements headed by a Palestinian young woman came from the sea & landed on the beach of Kibbutz Ma'gan Michael, in March 1978, where it hijacked two Egged buses & drove one of them all the way to the outskirts of Herzilya.The bloody,nightmarish drama ended with the Israeli bus being set ablaze & all its passenger getting killed.The toll was 34 Israelis & several PLO elements. Ehud Barak was photographed holding the dead Palestinian young woman from her hair after tearing her shirt apart ... Israel finally concluded it could no longer continue sacrificing its citizens at the expense of not dealing with the PLO.Hence in 1985 Israel made the famed prisoners exchange deal with a splinter PLO group & set free scores of Palestinian prisoners(among them was the Japanese Red Army member Kozo Okamoto who participated in the May 1972 killing of civilians in Lod airport). Israel's obstinacy proved a deep, self-inflicted wound in the nineties when an IDF conscipt was held hostage north of Jerusalem & was later killed when the IDF tried to storm the place of hiding ... Later Israel made two prisoner swap deals with Hizbullah of Lebanon. Israel's harsh & irrational military response against Hizbullah's abduction of two IDF soldiers in July 2006 proved self destructive. It seems the same fate awaits Gilad Schalit's case which either could secure the release of many Palestinian prisoners or could result in his death ! As regards media glory I seriously doubt Hizbullah needs it since it is not one of its objectives.The Lebanese Hizbullah routed Israeli naval commandos in 1997, forced the IDF to withdraw almost completely from southern Lebanon in May 2000,& proved the best & most qualified nationalistic defender & protector of Lebanon in the summer 2006 war against Israel. Objectively this looks the turn of the tide.Despite Egypt's peace with Israel that cold peace has brought with it plenty of curses to the region !

Gilad is a little more than 10 kms from where I live. Why don't we just go into Gaza, kick ass & bring Gilad home?

Shalits parents did israel a favour by telling the press that olmert was a gutless crook whose word could not be relied upon. Remember that hezbollah and hamas fired missiles into israel as they mocked olmert properly so and livni and were unafraid of them. Barak when he acts like a politician meets the same fate. Only confined to military matters is he reasonable. Now to get shalit back, here is what you do: 1) Inform haniyeh, zohar and musri that if any harm comes to shalit,they and theirs will be executed. 2) You give hanieyeh a deadline, either he releases shalit for an agreed hostage list, or he will be eliminated along with his colleagues. 3)Now as for mitchel and obama, israel is in a pickle because of olmert. Sharon left israel in good shape, defensive shield. Then this moron comes into office because livni was afraid to challenge him, and offered president abbas right of return(not one arab can come back to israel)??!! Al the hebrew U staff who love olmert and who think he is intelligent have egg on their faces. Olmert can take an exam and steal some dollars, thats it. His sons don't serve the military, he got out of combat, his wife protests the idf, yet doesn't mind holocaust charity vacations and spilling the blood of other israelis. Olmert's family is rotten to the core as he is. Margolis who knew olmert well said he is imcompetent in security matters, thinking. Fear, fear of torn limbs, fear of gentiles,, whatever it is, olmert screwed up every military matter israel was involved in, almost every. To concede the right of return means palestine binational state. US doesn't care if israel reverts to palestine with a jewish province. So forget about mitchel and do not let barak operate politically as he is not good that way. Arabs want israel disssolved and nothing, nothing will change it.

Like in the movie with Tom Cruise - he yells into the phone "Show me the money !!" Well, I yell - " show me proof of life". It is my gut feeling that the Pals are playing a "cat and mouse game" with us. They know their fellow terrorists in our prisons are alive - why they even had family visitation rights. You would think that in all fairness, Hamas would give sign of life of Gilad Shalit. No fairness, no mercy - they only want (just like children) more and more amnenties and not give anything but rockets in return.

The reason is simple. They can't produce Shallit. Shallit may well have been butchered by them. Hamas is even afraid to let the Red Cross see Shallit and verify to the world that he is alive.

If we take the facts of the past 24 years into account we can safely say that whoever demands to free Gilad "at any price" is actually sentencing him to death. I hope that I am wrong, but the real meaning of "any price" is that there is no price. The terrorists understand that time is on their side. The more cruel that they are, the more that they conceal information and even if they G-d forbid murder their captive and bargain for his body - the price that they will exact from Israel will only rise. More at : http://xrl.us/bezn4r

This article hits the nail on the head. Hamas is unlikely to agree to release Shalit anyway, and even if the Hamas leadership was 100% happy to do a prisoner swap, the price would be too great. Letting thousands of murderers out of prison will result in more dead Israelis, and will only encourage Hamas to kidnap more Israelis. We've tried negotiations, we've tried diplomacy, we've even tried being slightly coercive. If Israel assassinated several top Hamas leaders, and told the remaining leaders that they were next, I'm sure they would become more amenable to releasing Shalit, provided we warn them first that if they kill Gilad, Israel will have the entire senior leadership killed.

hamas fears the swap because THEY HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE EXEPT A BODY IN A BAG??????

I regret to think, Shalit was killed when captured. Looking at Arabs, this the logical action they would take. My heart goes out to his familty and Israel. You are dealing wih treacherous Arab criminals. Deal with therm accordingly and do not concern youself how many of them must be killed. Eventually you will have to consider military action. But or God's sake and yours, if you do, don't stop unil they are finished.

It is actually not a complex question as to why Hamas has not returned Mr. Shalit. There have been no photopgraphs, tapes or videos of Gilead since his capture. That should lead one to a fairly straightforward conclusion about his status. Mr. Shalit is dead.

And Number 11, not listed in this article, is Schalit's HUGE value to Hamass as "human shield" deterrent to an all-out IDF "send all of Hamass to Martyrland" battle. Think of Schalit as Hamass' "no-attack-Gazahkstan insurance policy!"

Great!!!

Israelis will, of course, have no choice but to track down & liquidate this utterly malevolent Hamas leadership. Only the presumed, still-living Shalit preserves their own safety, for the moment. Israel & the PA will have to accomodate eachother in a permanent sense, and eventually, slowly, will, but it's war to the knife with these Hamas creatures.

I am willing to do a prisoner exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, even with prisoners "with blood on their hands." But I have my conditions. 1. Gilad Shalit is alive 2. The number of such prisoners should not exceed 10% of the total 3. An initial trade should be of 40% of the prisoners without blood on their hands. 4. Gilad Shalit must be returned, he must be able to walk back across the border on his own power, with no restraints, and in proper military attire, or in clothes provided by Israel. 5. A full medical exam will be done for Shalit, and for any injuries, current and long term, the number of prisoners "with blood on their hands" will be reduced. 6. The remainder of the prisoners apart of this bargain will be released. 7. Discussions for the opening of the borders will commence

IS A TROYAN HORSE, THAT WILL BE SACRIFICED, FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF HAMAS AND GAZA. ACCORDING TO THIS ARTICLE, THEY WILL NEVER RELEASE SHALIT, AND THIS WILL BE THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WILL FORCE ISRAEL, TO GET RID OF HAMAS, EVEN TO THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA ITSELF. Orao.

if they eanted to get something out of israel they should have kidnapped an israeli soccer star not a soldier. they would get more israeli backing for his release

May God be with Shalit's family, but that soldier is no more, a long time ago. They can't produce Shallit. He's gone. May the young man rest in peace.

Campaign on Twitter was a success: http://ronmossad.blogspot.com/2009/08/gilad-shalit-day.html Except that Gilad is still in Gaza hell