Without trying to sound insensitive, would anyone walk into a shuk and proclaim "I really want that, and I'll pay anything you ask."? To those who say we should pay "any price" - even to releasing thousands of prisoners - are you not encouraging your enemies to raise the price? Suppose Haniyeh said, "We'll give you Shalit in return for ALL prisoners... plus Jaffa." Would it not strike everyone as ridiculous, even obscene? The fact is that the life of every Israeli captive is precious - a whole world - but his value is not infinite. It is the duty of the nation's leaders to consider the needs not just of the family but of the nation. That's not meant to sound harsh, but this is the real world. It is not Israel that should be paying the price; it should be those who commit such crimes against her. Finally, Jewish tradition speaks of the obligation to free the captives. But they made clear that the price paid must not be such as to encourage more captures. In releasing hundreds or thousands for one captive, they only encourage more of the same.

to loose a beloved one.

It was rather shocking for me to hear this story. In my understanding the Israeli governments have been trying to get its own captives back to home at any cost and this idea was so widely accepted that it was very effective when they need to mobilize manpower during the wars. By seeing the Israeli soldier who has been captured in Gaza more than a year, it seems the myth has been changed.