Israeli Soldier Returns Home

After more than five years in Hamas captivity, Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit arrived home Tuesday. 

In a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, Schalit was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

The swap will be performed in a series of delicate stages. 477 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were released Tuesday morning and an additional 550 prisoners will be released in two months.

Schalit, 25, was moved from Gaza into Egypt where Israeli medical personnel examined him.

Subsequently, Schalit was taken to a military base in Tel Nof, Israel where he was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and embraced by his mother, father, grandfather, sister and brother.

After being welcomed home by more than 200 supporters and activists in his doorway, Schalit entered his home in Mitzpe Hila, a town in Northern Israel near the Lebanese border.

Medical examinations showed that Schalit was malnourished, pale and limping but otherwise in reasonable health. His mental health is still unknown.

Father of Detained Israeli Soldier Says Son’s Continued Captivity and Palestinian Bid for Statehood are Incompatible

by Eli Fink

The father of an Isreali soldier held by Hamas in Gaza says the UN General Assembly should resist supporting a bid for Palestinian recognition at the world body until his son is released. 

“The Palestinians cannot go on with this grave breach of international law and humanitarian law and at the same time ask for legitimacy and to be a member state of the United Nations- It doesn’t go together.” Noam Shalit, father of Gilad Shalit, told Talk Radio News. “We are not asking the leaders of the world not to vote on behalf of the Palestinians [at the GA meetings this month], but to stop breaching international law and humanitarian law and release our son unconditionally.”   

 Shalit is meeting with UN diplomats in New York this week, the most recent attempt in a long list of family efforts to secure Gilad’s freedom. He and his wife Aviva have already set up a protest tent outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem and have been strong proponents of a prisoner exchange deal between the Israeli government and Hamas.

Gilad Shalit was a nineteen-year-old corporal in the Israeli Defenses Forces in 2006 when he was abducted by militants associated with the Gaza-based Palestinian faction Hamas. His current condition and the terms of his detention are unknown as no outside visitors have been permitted to see him. In the fall of 2009 Hamas put out a 2 minute video of the former tank driver which proved he was still alive in exchange for the release of twenty female Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. 

Jewish Group Says Palestinian Statehood Could Ignite Civil War Between Hamas, Fatah

The United Nations recognition of a Palestinian State at this year’s General Assembly could lead to a civil war between competing Palestinian political factions and a possible increase in attacks against Israel, says the head of a the World Jewish Congress, an organization dedicated to protecting Jewish communities. 

  “If this unilateral declaration were to be endorsed by the United Nations it would most likely trigger the continuation of a vicious cycle of violence within the Palestinian side.” Dan Diker, Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), told reporters at the UN this afternoon. “The way that might play out is for Israel to be attacked, in order to distract attention from what is really happening, which is an internal Palestinian civil war between Fatah and Hamas.” 

Palestinian leadership continues to maintain it will seek recognition at the United Nations this fall, although details about the exact status of recognition it is looking for remain unclear. 

Diplomats say they have already secured support from over 120 countries. 

 Regardless of the questions surrounding the exact nature of the Palestinian request, groups like the WJC say any “unilateral” Palestinian action at the world body will set the peace process back decades and threaten the UN’s integrity. 

“It would be an egregious violation of the very peace framework that this institution[UN] has established for the Arab states and Israel and has supported in every single peace process since 1967.” 

Diker was at the UN along with members of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), a coalition of Jewish legislators and ministers from around the world, to discuss support for Israel ahead of the General Assembly later this month. 

 ICJP Chair Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian Member of Parliament, echoed the WJC Secretary General’s view  that recognition of Palestinian statehood would likely negate any previous international agreements between both parties. 

 “The moment when you arrive to unilateral declaration, you cancel them out…you make a blank slate.” she said, 

 Nearly a year ago, Palestinian leadership walked away from peace talks after Israel refused to extend a settlement freeze in the Occupied Territories. The UN has since voiced concern over an important increase in settlement construction. 

 The United States, Tel Aviv’s strongest ally at the world body, says continued construction of settlement is counter productive to peace efforts and illegitimate, but should not preclude negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Nirenstein dismissed the notion that the Netanyahu government’s stance on settlement expansion was a significant obstacle to Middle East Peace, and argued that the issue should be part of the final negotiation process. 

“A lot of the settlements have been dismantled in the Gaza strip, and probably the moment when there is an agreement, this is what will happen and the settlements will be dismantled.”

Netanyhu Spokesman Defends Israel's Military Actions

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service

Mark Regev, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau, defended the Israeli military's recent actions, explaining that "the naval blockade on Gaza ... is a matter of life and death for Israel."

"As a country, we cannot allow unregulated naval access to the Gaza Strip," Regev said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday. Regev added that the blockade is an important component in preventing the delivery of rockets and other weapons that could then be used against Israel.

The spokesperson explained that Israel’s policy regarding supplies entering the Gaza strip is that once they are inspected by Israeli forces and are deemed acceptable, they are free to enter the area.

"On average, every week some 15,000 tons of aid reach the Gaza Strip and as far as I know there is no shortage of food, nor of medicines or any vital humanitarian supplies,” Regev said.

In regards to the incident, in which at least nine people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli military forces boarded a humanitarian flotilla Monday, Regev repeated claims that the soldiers were provoked.

“When there finally was the intervention on the high seas, they chose the path of violence. It wasn’t our side that initiated the violence, it clearly came from those on the boats,” Regev stated.

Regev said that despite the conflict, Israel will continue the peace talks with the Palestinians.

“We seek peace and reconciliation with our Palestinian neighbors, I think containing the threat that Hamas poses can be an important element in moving forward."

Gaza War: Should the U.S. step in?

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

In a House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs hearing today titled, "Gaza After the War: What Can Be Built on the Wreckage?" witnesses and officials expressed their concerns on the Gaza war and whether or not the U.S. should interfere and step in to help.

The war in Gaza escalated when Hamas, a Palestinian national-religious group succeeded in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections in January 2006. The conflict in Gaza began because Hamas opposes a two state solution. In a report given by witness, Dr. Ziad J. Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine, it states, "The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that between December 27, 2008 and January 31, 2009, 1,380 Palestinians had been killed, including 431 children and 112 women. A majority of those killed were reportedly civilians." There was also discussion about Iran and if the U.S. should urge them to stop providing Hamas with financial and military supplies as well as training.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK said, "I feel so discouraged because in that hearing not only most of the witnesses but from the questions of the congress people, you continue to see a sense that Israel was justified... There was very little expression of sympathy for those who died and were injured. Thousands and thousands have lost their homes and their livelihoods. There was unanimous consent that we shouldn't talk to Hamas and I think we should always talk to our adversaries and I think that it was a very disappointing hearing."

Congressman Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY.) expressed his concerns about the U.S. getting involved and said, "Over the past six years there have been many plans and many envoys. And contrary to popular opinion, there hasn't been a deficit of attention, merely a deficit of performance. Commitments made to the United States, or between the parties, have often been honored only in the breach. The timing was never right. What was promised was not delivered. There was always a provocation, an incident, an upcoming election, a crisis, an attack. And so it is again today."