Palestinians buckle

I don’t know what the rate of pay or conditions of service are for Israeli soldiers but morale must be pretty high with the government’s attitude to the kidnapping of one Corporal Gilad Shalit. Mobilize! Palestinian militant sources claimed last night that they were close to reaching an agreement in negotiations over the release of an Israeli soldier. I detect a bit of a spin in that statement; I imagine the Palestinians are thinking; Uh uh!. What’ll we do now? I know, lets release the Corporal while we still have the ability to make decisions. Yesterday the three groups holding Shalit said they would free him if Israel released 1,000 Palestinian women, children and humanitarian cases from prison but today they are just going to release him on a future trading/release sort of deal. I wonder if this had any impact on their thought process.

The news came as an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at the Gaza City office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

I realize the situation is about more than just Corporal Shalit’s freedom but the outcome will include his repatriation and that’s heady stuff for a corporal. I’m slightly peeved to consider that when I was a corporal I couldn’t begin to imagine any circumstances that would arise wherebye the majority of the ADF would have deployed to save my single solitary arse should I have been taken prisoner. More like “We taught him not to get separated….divide up his Playboy magazines…pack his other gear in a kitbag and Oh, Lcpl Smith, your now a corporal”.