Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Price of Freedom


This morning the government of Israel has decided to free 200 Palestinian prisoners. Olmert, our great and illustrious Prime Minister, explains that it is a good will gesture to Abu Mazen, the leader of the Palestinian Authority. One can only sit and wonder what the government is trying to accomplish. Possibly they are trying to turn Gilad Shalit into the next Jonathan Pollard, and have him stay where he is for the next twenty years.

Of course, it is possible that Olmert actually believes that giving up two hundred prisoners with no accompanying conditions could actually help bring peace to the Middle East. Then again it is highly likely that the pressure of the constant police investigations into is private life have caused him to half memory loss.

The last time we began in unconditional trade with the Palestinians we gave the only piece of land that separated Ashkelon from Azza. Olmert must have forgotten how badly that went.

Strangely weeks before he is to leave his office he finds it crucial to free prisoners for peace. Almost as if he is setting up the next office for faliure. It is a common enough practice that when you are fired and upset about it you destroy something in the office, delete files, or something of the sort. Maybe Olmert is nothing more than a disgruntled employee and just wants to screw over the next guy.

One thing is for sure, freeing Gilad Shalit will only get harder. If we were giving away two hundred prisoners for free, imagine how much it will cost when we actually want to buy something

No comments: