'Prisoner exchange deals put us on slippery slope'
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday said that, following the return of Gilad Schalit to Israel, the time has come "to end the slippery slope we find ourselves on" in regard to the ever-steepening price of returning abducted soldiers.
Barak made the comments upon receiving the recommendations of the Shamgar Committee, tasked with setting out guidelines for dealing with the abduction of soldiers. The details of the report were not revealed, but the panel was expected to recommend that Israel avoid conducting large-scale prisoner swaps for abducted soldiers like the one it carried out in October in exchange for Schalit in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.
The Shamgar Committee was established by Barak in July 2008 after the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were returned to Israel in exchange for terrorist Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah fighters and the bodies of nearly 200 Lebanese and Palestinians.
The government held up publicizing the committee’s recommendations until after a deal for Schalit was reached. If accepted and approved by the security cabinet, the panel’s recommendations will limit the government’s ability to conduct such swaps in the future.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=252332
Amazingly self evident. At least Israel has the wherewithall to admit their mistake - Never Ever Negotiate With Terrorists. Releasing 1,000 terrorists and killers is too high a price to pay.