Building Bridges: Cracking the terror equation

It is difficult to get over the feeling that arises when we see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to their homes in a unilateral move by Israel, while Gilad Schalit is still being held in the heart of Gaza, isolated from the world and from his family.

Despite the anger and feelings of injustice, the unconditional release of Palestinian prisoners is a step in the right direction towards breaking the equation which encourages terror and more kidnappings. The release of 200 Palestinian prisoners is not just a gesture to Abbas and the moderate PA leadership, which believes in dialogue and curbing terrorism, the release of prisoners is first an foremost a calculated move towards weakening Hamas and Hizbullah and towards turning the capturing of soldiers into a non-worthwhile act by terror groups.

In 2004, when Abbas was chosen as President of the Palestinian Authority, he needed to demand the release of prisoners in order to gain legitimacy with the Palestinian public and weaken the standings of terror groups. This demand was offhandedly dismissed by the Israeli leadership and only after great efforts were a small amount of prisoners released, many of whom were imprisoned for criminal activity such as car theft and the like. In the face of Abbas's meager achievements in Palestinian public opinion stood Nasrallah who brought about the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners in the Tanenbaum deal at the beginning of that same year.  

This same scenario was replayed in the recent prisoner release deal in which Nasrallah proved once again that violence and terror are the only ways to influence Israeli leaderships and that only the kidnappings of soldiers brings about achievements with regards to prisoner releases. According to Nasrallah, the equation has never been clearer; whomever comes in peace towards the Israeli government leaves empty-handed and whoever kidnaps and kills soldiers will win the mass release of soldiers. Israel, Nasrallah maintained, understands only force.

The reinforcement of this approach can be heard by Shaul Mofaz and Eli Yishai who openly claim that there won't be any unconditional releases of Palestinian soldiers. Claims such as these invite Palestinian resistance groups to capture soldiers and civilians in order to have their demands met by Israel.

Hostage release deals are part of the reality and we can assume that kidnappings and negotiations with terror groups won't simply disappear from the Middle East anytime soon. Israeli society must continue to meet its commitments towards its soldiers and pay a heavy price for those captured, including for Gilad Schalit.

As painful and frustrating as it is to come to the decision to release prisoners 'unconditionally', this is the right decision that could change the rules of the game, weaken terror groups and prove to the other side that dialogue trumps terror and that soldier kidnappings do not serve the interests of the Palestinian people.