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Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-opedonline092709,0,6633092.story
Israelis Place High Value on Even One Life
[South Florida Sun-Sentinel] Ofer Bavly - Gilad Shalit, abducted from Israeli territory by Hamas terrorists while serving in the Israel Defense Forces and standing watch over the border between Israel and Gaza, has spent the last 40 months in captivity. All international humanitarian laws as well as moral standards and basic decency have been trodden upon by Gilad's captors. In over three years of captivity, they have allowed absolutely no access to him - neither to his family nor to the Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization. The ransom that Hamas demands is the release of over 1,000 Palestinian terrorists presently serving jail sentences in Israel, guilty of having killed innocent Israelis in terrorist bombings or planning and helping to carry out such attacks. 1,000 terrorists and radicals are serving prison sentences after having stood a fair and just trial, represented by lawyers. They had recourse to due process of law. Their families have full visitation rights and the prisoners enjoy a list of privileges including correspondence with their families, the receipt of packages from them, access to television, computers and telephones, and granted the most humane treatment. At the same time, in Gaza, there is a young Israeli man whose rights are denied, who was never accused of anything and never tried for anything. Ofer Bavly is Consul General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico.