"...we must do everything, absolutely everything, to bring about the release Corporal Gilad Shalit in the nicest way possible." What in the world is the "nicest way possible"?

In an answer to your question just what is the nicest and proper way to guarantee the release of our captive, we have to elevate ourselves spiritually and realize that to some theorists, the religious answer to why, do children who are free from sin suffer and die is. Each person has a special divine mission to be performed in his life, our phenomenal advances in medicine, our being able to actually map the human genome, our experiments with cryogenics, stem cell and other means of healing and eradication of age old children ailments that effect them in their entire life, all are in response to try and alleviate the terrible pain and suffering that parents of such young children go through. Please do not misunderstand me, I fervently pray and hope that our captives are found in time and freed in good health, but maybe their captivity is to save many innocent Israelis from the wrath of the Islamic theocracy. In surgery when a cancer is removed you also remove all healthy looking flesh in the event that the cancerous cells invaded them and is not yet visible. This even must be looked at through this prism, as I do not believe that any other event would have galvanized the Israeli Politic to take the appropriate action to put a stop to the daily yes I mean daily terrorists attempts to harm Israelis.

I re-read the piece several times, trying to find any logic in the author's position. Apparently, none exists: every line is self-contradicting. If the government is weak on negotiations, why should it negotiate? If we lack the spirit, why to tramp it into the dust more? What is the point of all this screaming, Batya? Showing your personal niceties? To whom? Do you believe that the Palestinians, if they have a chance to kidnap you, will appreciate your nicety and return you safely back home with apologies? Get back to the real world and, if you can't say anything reasonable, just keep silence for a while. An opportyunity to think also...

I guess every nation has a Lord or Lady Haw-Haw in wartime. I will go further, Lord Haw-Haw sounded eminently rational and reasonable compared to Ms. Melamed. I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Not as Jessus wants, but at least the same way you want Palestinians not to hate you, and in most cases love you.

or Causing the Endless Grief that has followed the Creation of a Zionist State.

As with most things in life, we need to an answer "why". Why the sacrifices, why the pain and why the effort. It is just possible that if it is all for a Hong Kong or Singapore on the shores of the Mediteranean, it is not enough.

A realistic and most couragious approach! Contrary to what many Israelis may feel, going by this approach is definitely a sign of strength and not weekness. This everlasting conflict requires an act of the type recommended. In fact ,it is the only means through which this vicious circle of violence dominant for decades, can be broken. Israeli officials must have realised by now that military might will never bring peace and security to their nation.

The idea that jews, like any other people are deserved of a land and to be left in peace free from europe and arab lands where our people have been butchered for thousands of years is worth dying for. that is why britain has become what it is, because they have forgotten that som things in life are worth dying for. it is this chamberlain like lack of resistance that is creating in the words of melanie philips "londonistan"

has rearranged the furniture in this lady's bodily penthouse, she is in urgent need of advice from an interior designer.

So, release all the terrorists and what are you going to give them for the young guy from Itamar - Eliyahu Asheri - and the next hostage and the next? Arabs kill and do not listen to anything else but a missile or tank shell. Even a rifle is not enough. They don’t even listen to their own. The world pleaded for the lives of hostages in Iraq. Did they listen? My argument is that we should have been after them moments after it happened. I just hope and pray that if there is “somebody” up there, He will look after our children and get them home safe and sound.

A radical leftist calling for collective suicide and harrassing us while our soldiers are fighting the enemy? Keep quiet.

NK, what was wrong in your eyes when we left Gaza? Of course, you will say that it was not enough, that we left you strangled etc. etc., but summarily, weren't you better off after we slashed our prospring communities? Say "yes" or "now". If you were better off, then why did you reciprocate with Qassams and kidnapping? If no, why you object to our return to Gaza? Just curious in search of ANY logic...

is not what we need at a time like this. Remember Entebbe? We need heroes

other than :kill them,crush them,bobm them,cut water ,electricity and may be air ,hit them,hit them more........ do you have a solution so that you and us can live as all people live ??

Who is this Batya Melamed, and what makes her radical opinion so important? What qualifies her as a mimitary/political analyst?

Batya is being ironic. She is mocking Israel's current leadership and 'Haaretz elite' by comparing them to Europe's appeasers of the 1930's who honestly and sincerely believed that the democratic populations were not up to a fight and that Germany's ambitions were limited (and not unjustified). Israel will eventually come to realise that despite the cost in blood and materials it must capture and disarm and occupy Gaza for a considerable period before handing it over to Nato to enforce the peace just as in Kosovo.

This is absolute shame, a "news" site printing this for shock value when 99.9% of the people that live here in Israeli do not think this way-ie that we need to just give up and give in because we will never win. The people of Israel are not going anywhere and while we could (and other countries would) annihilate all of Gaza tomorrow we will not, we will continue to do everything possible to kill terrorists and not innocent people because we have moral strength and values as a people-the terrorists will continue to operate in the midst of innocent Palestinians and to use their "brothers" as human shields.

why dont we all slit our throats - that'll make the problem go away, what a moronic article, who is she? the local kindergarten teacher or metapelet?

and see the hint of reverse psychology at least thats what I think shes getting at.. True we cant rely on the morons who brought this all about but national suicide aint no option either.

I have no idea who this author is (I guess the fashion at YNet is to let any friend of a friend publish an article, without any 'credentials'), but she is perhaps trying to teach us that there may be a deeper dimension to this struggle, one that escapes many Jews--there is a psychological component, and a spiritual component, to the struggle over Israel. We all need to do some soul searching (myself included) to make sense of what is going on...although by no means should that stop the military from doing what it has to do to free captives and, perhaps as important, deter those who rise up against us. As for the Arab 'talkback' commentators, when will the Arab media permit the free exchange of viewpoints that you are permitted in this forum? Don't hold your breath waiting.

The will to win is probably the most important factor in war. I like what I see in Gaza today. Sadly you must make the other guys hurt and that means accepting some hurt in return.

must be ellen again trying to fool us DONT STOP IDF WR BEHIND U

I have read Batyas writings before and have always found her to be a true Jewish Nationalist, what she does here is to say that not by might alone will we succeed against Am Yisraels many enemies, both physical and Spiritual, We Jews must gather strength from Torah and each other, stop repeating the leftist- commie matra of we can`t go here, we can`t do this, THIS IS OUR LAND.................Stop asking the Goyim for their blessing....................This was our land long before ....................... Wake Up ...................

People who stop reading before the second to last sentence fail to get the point.

"Just let us avoid this war. It is doomed to failure from the start." correct me if im wrong, but throughout the state of Israel's history, it would appear that israel has been an absolute failure diplomatically and a victor militarily. Military operations have a better track record than Batya Melamed's solution of releasing palestinian prisoners and the promise of more diesengagements,

it is not the feath in our country make our power it is the hell that the israili doing from our life to live without water and electricity making more power to resist what the other want us to be you will be what you want not what the enemy want you to be lastly we do not pay any price only the lifes which we realy owned and sure it is a high price more than the wall caost but many will pay this price to own the selfe salam

if you throw away all logically impossible variants, the one that remains MUST be true no matter how bizarre it looks... Apparently, Batya is indeed ironic. If so, I apologize for my initial talkback and will work on developing my humouristic capacity, not to be ashamed the next time. Apparently, I read too much of Ha'Aretz recently...