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| Peace signs are not good |
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WHATEVER happens israel ensures that every possible Jew comes home - and that includes those who have fallen in battle. The tragic scenes witnessed in Israel this week bear testimony to a country which values its people - in life and death - as the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were returned home by Hezbollah in exchange for the remains of dead Palestinians and five prisoners, including a notorious murderer who has spent the best part of his life in an Israeli prison.
Contrast the dignity of Israel in handing over the plain wooden caskets containing their enemies' remains with the joyful scenes and the unseemly slogans on the other side. There are some who believe that Israel gave too much for the return of two bodies, but few Israelis would agree. Despite the fact that Palestinian Samir Kantar was freed after nearly three decades in an Israeli prison, convicted of killing a father, his four-year-old daughter and a policeman in a 1979 attack, every Israeli family is aware of the dangers that face their loved ones and few would want the final resting place of a son or a husband to be some Palestinian field. The price Israel has been forced to pay is high but the dignity of the Jewish state is unquestionable. Contrast that again with Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas congratulating Kantar, and the contemptuous slogans aimed at the bereaved Israeli families, and the world has some idea of the type of enemy Israel faces. Abbas should have been reserved, particularly at a time when he suggests that peace with Israel has never been closer. Not with that kind of behaviour. Meanwhile Syrian president Assad chose to ignore Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert during the Paris summit. This was the perfect chance for the two to meet informally. Does any of this really augur well for peace in the region?
E-MAIL: editor@jewishtelegraph.com
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