One thousand for one

[frandroid]

You'd think that the scope of the deal would be the news: Hamas convinces Israel to release 1000 prisoners in exchange for its one hostage. And yet all the headlines blare "Shalit to be released", "Israeli to go home", etc

Comments

[dubaiwalla]

Ratio doesn't seem surprising for this sort of deal. I've seen people write in the past that Israel erred in making so big a deal out of Shalit for so long because they would then 'pay' a higher 'price' to get back such an important symbol. In any event, I wonder how this deal (and others like it in the past) fits in with Israel's stated policy of not negotiating with 'terrorists.'

[frandroid]

They never negotiate with terrorists, until they do.

I know that it was expected, but not any less than the fact that a deal would be struck eventually or that Shalit would go home. I'm just pointing out the bias in only focussing on Shalit's release, as opposed to acknowledging that Palestinians are part of the deal. They're just headlines, but the sum total of them is telling.

[dubaiwalla]

The headline in my local paper had the same frame of reference. I suppose it doesn't hurt that Gilad Shalit has a name and a face, whereas the Palestinian detainees are fairly anonymous.

[sabotabby]

I'm kind of stunned that he's still alive.