one Israeli is worth a thousand Palestinians

COMMENT

Is I suppose how the Israeli government justified its actions to its people, some of whom are furious at the prisoner exchange taking place today. An Israeli journalist was interviewed on Sky News this morning, who displayed, for a member of the press, an alarming lack of objectivity when asked about the affair. She explained how one noble young man is being swapped for "a thousand murderers", though this is scarcely the case. True, many have been convicted of murder, though by Israeli courts, not exactly the body of people most likely to give a hated Palestinian a fair hearing. Many were simply caught throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, armed in their turn with fully automatic rifles.

The reality is that the Israeli leadership has probably been pressured to do this by the Americans, anxious to be seen to be doing something positive in a region that needs all the positive moves it can get. But nearly 10,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, most of them guilty of no more than protesting their treatment at the hands of a brutal and racist regime. And they aren't likely to taste freedom any time soon.