A Beautiful Country By Larry Hall Years ago, I would have searched for a way to rationalize the expected prisoner release in which Israel’s Prime Minister is to order immediate freedom for over 100 Arab security prisoners, some of them convicted of heinous acts of murder. I would have lined up a list of reasons compelled by domestic and foreign politics, and the need for realpolitik in dealing with a hostile world. No longer: nothing justifies the decision as presented by Benjamin Netanyahu. He lamented the decision as he presented it, explaining correct that it violates basic precepts of justice. “Bibi” described in detail the pain caused him personally by the presumed necessity of the choice. He attempted to calm the public’s expected anger by referring to ‘the beautiful country’ constructed while the prisoners were incarcerated, as if the natural growth of a nation of lively and driven people might be compensation for justice’s trampling – and for the very practical danger of releasing patriotic Muslim killers into the public space. Fortunately, Netanyahu did not claim that these prisoners had been rehabilitated. That he would not dare. The Israeli public already has the harshest experience with the outcome of earlier prisoner releases, for some of those freed have returned to murder scores more civilians in shootings, stabbings and bombings. When former Prime Minister and war hero Ariel Sharon released hundreds to extract his friend Elhanan Tannenbaum from the Hizbollah in Beirut, numbers of these returned to murder another 27 Israelis. One-sided prisoner exchanges in return for live and dead Israelis or the promise of negotiations are a tradition in modern Israel. Since at least 1985, when Shimon Peres released 1150 prisoners in exchange for three captured soldiers. A CNN article from October 14 2011, describes the precedent and reaction to it: “The most notable of all was the Jibril Deal of 1985. The Israeli government headed by then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres (the current president) agreed to release 1,150 prisoners in exchange for three Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon by the Palestinian Militant Front led by Ahmed Jibril. The deal aroused immense controversy due to the stark asymmetry." "Yitzhak Navon, the only minister who voted against the agreement, said then, "I thought this was a terrible example, for us to show all our enemies that for them the best deal is to kidnap soldiers and citizens. We must have the strength to tell the families of the captive soldiers -- there is a line that the nation cannot cross." In the intervening 27-plus years since Shimon Peres shocked Israel (a first indication of the political course that he would set from then on), deals have been standard fare. The chronological patterns are often similar – negotiations are stalemated, international pressure mounts on the sides (but mostly on Israel) to move, the Arab side balks at returning to talks, the US Administration expresses frustration and scolds. Weeks of silence pass before an Israeli leader emerges from the siege of governance to announce terms of the arrangement. Yet, most of these deals had an explicit rationale. Something would be received in return, no matter how lopsided the terms – no matter how orientated towards satisfying Arab extortionist habits while catering to Jewish sensitivity over the lives or remains of soldiers. In this case, all we have are vague and floating notions of a resumption of ‘peace talks’ with a Palestine Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas, formerly Yasir Arafat’s lead adviser and a man who a few days ago referred to one famous Palestinian Arab terrorist as a ‘pure soul.’ It is possible to speculate at length over the reasons for Netanyahu’s capitulation to pressure. I will avoid doing that, because, in the end, the reasons (excuse) do not matter. The man was given stewardship of the State of Israel by its voters, though his mandate is in fact quite limited (32 of 120 Knesset seats now belong to the Likud). He is responsible for decisions that affect every aspect of the lives of its citizens. And he has chosen to release prisoners who murdered Israelis to ‘liberate Palestine.’ This while Abbas and his colleagues exist physically by the will of Israel, whose security forces protect the PLO/PA from the octopus reach of the Hamas, the Palestinian Arab chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood. If this deal goes through, the Likud’s popularity will further erode. This will likely be Netanyahu’s last term as Prime Minister of a country of hope, a country that is, as he says, ‘beautiful’; a country in which a clear-sighted future is only possible through respect for the lost lives of its citizens and the application of true justice. Bibi has just said as much, in his self-tortured words of explication.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 10:46:29 +0000