At this juncture, it is not yet possible to know the results of the recent prisoner exchanges in Israel/Palestine. More deals with Hamas? Renewed negotiations with the Palestinian Authority? Strong Israeli crackdowns on rocket fire from Gaza? Massive attempts to capture more Israeli soldiers, followed by reprisals in Gaza?
For now, three aspects of this amazing human drama are worthy of note. First: The idea that any country would release a thousand and twenty-seven prisoners, some of whom had murdered their compatriots, to get back one of its children (Gilad Shalit was nineteen, when he was taken prisoner over five years ago), is an act of love so startling that it should stop us in our tracks.
For me, it recalled these lines from Chris Hedges’ sobering and illuminating book, ‘War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning’: ‘Love may not always triumph, but it keeps us human. It offers the only chance to escape from the contagion of war. Perhaps it is the only antidote. And there are times when remaining human is the only victory possible.’
Noteworthy, too, is the fact that seventy-five percent of Israelis favored this thousand-and-twenty-seven-to-one prisoner exchange and, weeks later, the country was still celebrating Sergeant First Class Gilad Shalit’s return to his family. Shalit’s parents led a mass movement that ultimately forced the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate for his freedom.
There has always been an enviable bond of mutual responsibility between the Israeli people and the sons and daughters they conscript into the armed forces. In March 2002 Robi Damelin’s son, David, was shot by a sniper while serving in the Israeli army. He was 28 years old. Robi now works for The Parents’ Circle, a group of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families supporting reconciliation and peace.
From the moment that her son was killed in March 2002, Damelin has proclaimed, ‘Do not take revenge in the name of my son,’ who, she claims, was ‘the most humanistic person you could meet.’ David was working with the peace movement at the time of his murder. ‘I now spend my time,’ she concludes, ‘traveling the world, spreading the message of reconciliation, tolerance and peace.’