donsutherland1

Earlier this week, Israel released 198 Palestinian prisoners, including one who was responsible for an attack that killed an Israeli civilian. As has been the case with earlier unilateral gestures by Israel, the prisoner release produced no Palestinian gestures. In fact, just days later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed the Palestinian demand for a "right of return" for Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post reported:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he rejects the idea that Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon might be forced to stay there permanently.

Abbas said all Palestinians should have the right to return home.

This latest Palestinian reaction is not surprising. So long as Israel continues to make unilateral concessions, the Palestinians will have an incentive for implacability to see what additional concessions can be extracted from Israel. Israel needs to shift to a position of strict reciprocity. Otherwise, it is unlikely that the Palestinians will demonstrate the kind of meaningful flexibility and willingness to compromise that would be essential to reaching a peace agreement.

Tashah

I agree. There has been no Palestinian quid pro quo that I can discern. On the subject of prisoners, Cpl. Gilad Shalit remains in Palestinian captivity since his kidnapping on June 25, 2006. They cannot release even 1 solitary low ranking Israeli prisoner? This alone speaks volumns on the sham of a fair and earnest reciprosity.

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cherokee

Abbas is no better then all the other morons who play the role of victim hood.
Its the never ending cycle of shooting yourself in the foot then crying about the pain........

bub

How many prisoners do the Palestinian take? 2, 3 per year?

How many prisoners do the Israeli take? 2000 or 3000 per year?

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Tashah

Israel just released 198 prisoners. Palestine cannot release even 1 Israeli in a small reciprocal gesture?

IIRC, you applauded the release of Palestinian prisoners when it was posted in this forum. If you can applaud one side for their action, how can you then honestly neglect to condemn the other for their inaction? Now you apparently want even more Israeli concessions without any similar expectation voiced upon the Palestinians. In all my experience, it takes two to tango. Perhaps the tango is very different in Belgium?

bub

Of course they should, but don't expect them to release 198 prisoners too
I was the one who posted it, a few hours after they were freed

I was just saying that the Israelis take many more prisoners, and so it would be impossible for the Palestinians to realease as many prisoners as the Israelis.

But of course I think they should release Gilad Shalit and the others.

Tashah

I never voiced such an expectation. I have only mentioned Cpl. Shalit.

Yes. They are free. And Cpl. Shalit remains in captivity.

It was not expected that Palestine reciprocate precisely. What was expected was - 1 - Israeli prisoner being released.

btw, do you have any idea how many Palestinians are executed by Hamas and Fatah simply for a mere suspicion of collaborating with Israel? Do you imagine that these unfortunate souls wind up in prison? They are tortured and then hung from a public streetlamp. The corpse is then further abused as it dangles.

ThankQ.

bub

then you are right!

Vader

I agree, Tasha.

However, I seriously doubt Cpl. Shalit is still among the living. For that reason, I firmly believe that releasing Palestinian prisoners is a mistake that will only fuel the fires of Palestinian terrorism.

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