Israel counts cost of humiliation in bodies

MIDDAY in the Restobar café in West Jerusalem and last week's prisoner release is dominating conversations.

"What we saw on Wednesday was disgusting and I'm worried about whether Hamas will now bother to keep Gilad Shalit alive," said Stella Levy-Heisler, a dentist, who was having lunch with family and friends.

"I mean, why should they keep him alive when they saw what Hezbollah got for just two dead bodies?"

Her husband, Yaniv Levy, agreed, insisting the time had come for Israel to change its time-honoured tradition of doing everything possible to ensure the return of its soldiers, either dead or alive.

"I would say it should be dead body for dead body, end of story," the 37-year-old IT manager said. "I don't like what my prime minister did, not at all."

With many Israelis now arguing that the Jewish state paid far too high a price over Wednesday's deal – five Lebanese prisoners for two Israeli reservists – attention has switched to what should be done to secure the release of the kidnapped soldier Shalit, who has been held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza for more than two years after being seized in 2006 during a cross-border raid.

The crucial difference is that unlike Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – whose abduction by Hezbollah sparked a five-week, inconclusive war in southern Lebanon two years ago, and who were not thought to have survived their ordeal – Shalit is believed to still be alive.

Since most young Israelis serve in the military, Shalit's captivity – along with the story of Goldwasser and Regev – resonates with much of the country. But the government knows that last week's exchange, which included the release of multiple killer Samir Kuntar, has tipped negotiations in favour of Hamas, effectively allowing the group to up its price for Shalit's safe return.

The fact that Hezbollah kept all parties in suspense about the fate of the two reservists until two black coffins were pulled out of a van last Wednesday, sparking outrage across the Jewish state, was bad enough. The release of Kuntar, serving several life terms for the brutal slayings of three Israelis, including a four-year-old child in 1979, made the situation even worse.

But for many, their anger was reinforced by television images beamed from Beirut of Kuntar raising his fist in joy at a rally where Hezbollah leaders and supporters celebrated what they described as a huge triumph for the Shi'ite Muslim militant group.

Strenuous efforts to secure the release of captured personnel is almost a sacred tenet of government policy, but deals such as this are making Israelis question whether it should be done at any price.

In the Restobar, Hagai Nachmani, a 25-year-old visual arts student and army reservist, said his attitudes had changed since he completed his compulsory military service four years ago.

"Back then, as a full-time serving combat soldier, of course I would have wanted my government to do all that it could to ensure my safe return if anything had happened," he said.

"Nowadays, I feel a bit different and think such deals play directly into the hands of terrorist groups. So I'd demand, in Shalit's case, that we first see proof that he is alive before doing anything else."

The Islamist movement says the prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah was a victory for the resistance and the Lebanese militants.

"This is a very big victory for the resistance and for Hezbollah and it is a festival for the prisoners and their families," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "It's also proof that kidnapping Zionist soldiers is the best way to free the prisoners since the occupation keeps arresting them."

If only to confirm Israel's worst suspicions, Hamas has not yet agreed to renew negotiations over Shalit's release, refusing to back down from the list of more than 1,000 prisoners whose freedom they demand. Israel has approved just 71 names on the list, arguing the others clearly "have blood on their hands" and are therefore not eligible for release.

The Hamas list includes scores of Palestinian militants serving consecutive life sentences for involvement in bus bombings in the early 1990s, and in major suicide bombings during the second intifada.

But Israeli government officials quietly acknowledge there can be no deal without the release of controversial prisoners, saying what Hezbollah received was tiny compared to what Hamas is demanding.

Given the success of the Hezbollah deal, Hamas is also reportedly agitating for Germany, which mediated between Israel and Hezbollah, to take over from Egypt in the Shalit negotiations but a senior Israeli government source said no such request had yet been received.

With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert under investigation for fraud and corruption, throwing into question the survival of his government, there is also doubt that a deal can be concluded in the coming months.

Still, many analysts argue that the time has come for a major rethink on the country's position when it comes to securing the release of its soldiers.

"We've gone to great lengths in order to bring our soldiers back, but that strength is turning into a major weakness," said Gidi Grinstein, who runs the Tel Aviv-based think-tank, the Reut Institute.

"We have been exposed as being strategically irrelevant and Israel needs to rethink its entire national security strategy that dates back to a time when our enemies were states and their militaries, not militant groups who ignore the laws of war," Grinstein said.

"So in the case of Gilad Shalit, we need to take a much tougher, hardline position; starting with no more negotiations until the International Red Cross has seen Shalit and confirmed he is alive."

Unlike Goldwasser and Regev, three letters reportedly written by Shalit, along with one audiotape, have been handed to his family, thus leading Israeli officials to believe he is still alive – but no aid organisation has been allowed to meet the 21-year-old captive.

Yoram Schweitzer, the director of the Terrorism Project at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said the country has "failed" to safeguard its soldiers and was paying the price.

While he believed that Israel did its utmost to retrieve its soldiers as "a sacred value", there was a need to re-examine the policy. Otherwise, the Jewish state would find the price of the deal with Hamas would be "higher and harder to digest".

"First, many of those appearing on the Hamas wish list of prisoners to be released are sentenced to particularly long terms given the heinousness of their crimes, but have yet to serve a substantial portion of their sentences.

"Second, once released, they are liable to make significant contributions to the continued struggles of their organisations against Israel."