No More Gestures

From No More Gestures:

On Wednesday I met with Noam Shalit, the father of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The same day, we heard about Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' request for a goodwill gesture. Abbas asked that Israel release 150 prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat, the man who planned Minister Rehavam Ze'evi's assassination.

We too want gestures. We want Gilad Shalit to be handed over to the Egyptians. We want Gilad to be granted the basic humanitarian right of Red Cross visits. We have made plenty of gestures already. Sick Gazans receive medical treatment in Israel, and Israeli doctors have been saving lives in Gaza without asking whose children they are saving. The children of Hamas men have also been treated. Yet somehow we do not get any gestures. Goodwill gestures must secure something in exchange.

Miki Goldwasser is the mother of fallen IDF reserve soldier Ehud Goldwasser.