Abduction and Hamas grab international headlines

The abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the Israel Defense Forces' return to Gaza were reported on the front pages of world newspapers yesterday, including The New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, The Times of London, The Guardian, Le Figaro and Die Welt.

Even the Anchorage Daily News, in Alaska, gave the Gaza stories a prominent spot on the front page.

The foreign television networks are covering the developments around the clock. "I've been working non-stop for four days," says Enrique Zimmerman, the Israel correspondent of the Spanish broadcast network Antena 3.

<<<snip>>>

Most newspapers tied the military invasion into Gaza and the Hamas' agreement to the prisoners' document into one story. The headlines of the British Independent left no doubt as to the newspaper's opinion. "War or peace," the main headline shouted, with the word "war" smeared on the picture of an Israeli tank, while the word "peace" was on the backdrop of a Palestinian child standing near a Hamas flag and a mosque.

more...

an overt act of war?

It strikes me as both incredibly stupid and outrageously audacious of the Israeli's. At the very least it is a totally unhelpful gross escalation - even if they claim they are "arresting" them and had "planned" this weeks before the latest violence by Hamas.

Tho I suppose the Israeli's are just more bluntly going after the standard ol' USA sposored pre-emptive regime change approach....

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

All I am saying is that kidnapping the MEMBERS OF GOVT of another country is not helping the situation. It is an unneeded escalation. I hope they can have the young soldier returned, but then I also remember the many innocent Palestinians who have been killed indiscriminately - one side always "retaliates" and no one wins.

PEACE would be for both sides - but both sides need to understand that to gain peace they must each GIVE something. Neither will get everything they want.

But so's firing missiles into the other ... um ... entity's territory, and sending in a commando squad to attack and abduct civilians.

Then there's the targetting of civilians.

Problem is, Israel's at war with whom? The Republic of Palestine? Is there an army, or just lots of militias, each with their commander or shaykh?