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Source: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/israels-difficult-decision_596021.html
Israel's Difficult Decision
(Weekly Standard) Elliott Abrams - Yes, Israel's decision to free over 1,000 prisoners in order to liberate Gilad Shalit is a victory for Hamas, in that it demonstrates to Palestinians that Hamas is able to free their prisoners when Fatah and the PLO are not. Yes, this gives Hamas an incentive to kidnap another soldier and get back more terrorists. Yes, this is a danger to all Israelis because past recidivism rates among freed terrorists have been very high. So why do the vast majority of Israelis support the decision? Because Israelis believed there was an unbreakable obligation to bring Shalit home. Israel is simply different from the U.S. Its Jewish population is but 5 million. It has a conscript army consisting of young people like Gilad Shalit, and military service is nearly universal. For the great majority of Israelis, then, the soldiers are their children - or at least their neighbors' or cousins' children - and they must be brought home.