To the Point
Gilad Shalit and the Israeli Prisoner Swap with Hamas
After five years in the Gaza Strip, a captured Israeli soldier has been returned, and Israel has begun to release more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners. On both sides...
By Warren Olney • • 50m ListenAfter five years in the Gaza Strip, a captured Israeli soldier has been returned, and Israel has begun to release more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners. On both sides, celebration is tinged with bitterness. Will the trade improve relations between Israel and Hamas? Has the "Arab Spring" made Egypt a different kind of player? Also, will the Pentagon's dramatic adoption of remote controlled drones change the face of warfare?
Banner image: Freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (2nd R) walks with (L-R) Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his father Naom Shalit at Tel Nof Airbase on October 18, 2011 in central Israel. Photo by IDF viaGetty Images
In this episode
2 storiesIs Israeli Prisoner Swap with Hamas a Step Toward Peace?
Five years after being abducted by Hamas during a cross-border raid, a captured Israeli soldier is back home in Israel. Sergeant First Class Gilad Shalit was taken from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, where he told Egyptian TV he was hopeful that his trade for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners being released by Israel would "advance peace."
Read the story23 minThe Pros and Cons of Drones
Wars are vastly expensive in blood and treasure. The outcomes are always uncertain, and continued public support is not guaranteed. Witness Iraq and Afghanistan. Faced with the threat of terrorism, the Obama Administration has "decisively embraced the drone… as a cheap, safe and precise tool to eliminate enemies."
Read the story27 min
