Yazan Sawalha turned 20 years old on Monday in an Israeli detention center. His family had been hopeful that after 40 days under interrogation by the Israel Security Agency, Yazan would be home to celebrate his birthday. “All the family is sad today,” said Mohammad, Yazan’s father. “Normally we have five plates around the table. Today is the first birthday since… return to article
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Reader Comments (13)Page 1 of 1 pages“Why Is Yazan Sawalha in Prison?”
My horseback estimate is that he is a Palestinian terrorist.
Israeli Intelligence is the best in the world, unlike our own stumblefart Sinister-infiltrated Intelligence services. The Israelis do not make many mistakes when trying to identify the people who are trying to kill them.
Asking the Israelis to clean up after themselves when taking down a terrorist is a bit much. Tell the Palestinians to quit firing rockets into Israel, and the Israelis will not have any terrorists to go after.
Posted by scorp on Dec 19, 2007 at 7:02 PM Your horseback estimate isn’t very convincing. I am curious how you know that “Israelis don’t make many mistakes.” Also, it’s unfortunate that you see nothing wrong with masked, unidentified gunmen forcing their way into a house and damaging private property with no explanation even after 40 days. Nothing about this situation seems to adhere to Israel’s right of due process.
Posted by hulapop on Dec 19, 2007 at 9:07 PM “It will create hatred in the hearts and in the minds of the coming generations.”
It would seem logical to me that Israel would not act in such a way as to gin up even more hatred for itself, unless they had very good justification for doing so.
”“When I went to the ICRC, I saw several people, especially mothers, who came to complain that they had not heard anything about their sons for months,” Mohammad says.”
Is it just me, or is it silly to expect that a “national political reporter” might seek to offer a tidbit of context. LIke say, a brief mention of all the thousands of Israeli mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who have also heard nothing from their mothers, fathers, sons or daughters for months. Nor will they probably ever, since they’re dead via deliberate mass homicide.
The impression one gets from this article is that there’s an innocent peace loving group of meek and mild folks under attack from a brutal uncaring band of kidnapping torturers. We would expect this kind of distorted and erroneous picture from a biased opinion writer, but not from a “journalist”.
Posted by Natalie on Dec 22, 2007 at 5:26 AM Again, I question the assumptions in these comments. Is it really logical to suggest that Israeli forces would *never* do anything that would attract criticism? I am personally scared of people who put so much blind certainty in their hunches, no matter what side of the wall they live on. When I read the article above, I want more information. I want to know why this young man was apprehended in such a clandestine manner, and what exact charges are being brought against him. That’s the sort of context for which I am looking. When more information is available, I will then make up my mind. Since little information seems available, I am personally uncomfortable linking one person to the deaths of numerous Israelis.
Posted by hulapop on Dec 24, 2007 at 2:02 AM “Is it really logical to suggest that Israeli forces would *never* do anything that would attract criticism?”
Nobody’s suggesting that, exactly. They often do things that attract criticism. My point is that it would be counterproductive for them to kidnap this person for no good reason.
Why create yet another firestorm of outrage by taking someone who was guilty of nothing?
Obviously we’re only speculating, and more information is necessary to come to a sure conclusion, but does Israel have a history of taking innocent hostages? That seems much more a tactic employed by their adversaries.
Posted by Natalie on Dec 24, 2007 at 3:46 AM Actions like these show that there will never be a long lasting peace,in the middle east. Israel surelly have a good reason to apprehend this person.Or maybe they are recruiting another intel for them?
Posted by anthony on Dec 26, 2007 at 11:40 AM “Actions like these….”
And, what of the actions like those?
Posted by Natalie on Dec 27, 2007 at 7:11 AM You are not creating everlasting peace when the country involved doesnteven come to the table!
Posted by anthony on Dec 27, 2007 at 1:44 PM You are not creating anything that makes any sense to me, but it very well could be just me!
Posted by Natalie on Dec 27, 2007 at 6:19 PM Merry Xmass Natalie Seasons Greetings. But is it normal that men dressed up in masks and weapons come in youre house and take a loved one without saying anything?For no reason?
Posted by anthony on Dec 28, 2007 at 2:04 PM No, but it’s also not normal for people to be eager to transform themselves into human bombs, with which to indiscriminately terrorize and mass murder innocent civilians.
Nor is it normal to launch hundreds upon hundreds of rockets into another country on the basis of a land dispute.
Logic dictates that this guy either was guilty of committing and/or aiding and/or abetting terrorism, or he has valuable knowledge with which to prevent the things mentioned above.
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could simply act normally? I get the sense that one side in the Israel/Palestine dispute would desperately like to, and seeks to when it can, and the other side, at least a large portion thereof, desperately doesn’t want to.
Posted by Natalie on Dec 28, 2007 at 10:14 PM I agree what you said Natalie it would be nice if there was a everlasting peace! And as for people with bombs blowing them self up isnt the answer either. I hope like you that we can all get allong.In fact it is such a nice area that they should be able to build up their homes and live in Peace.
Posted by anthony on Dec 29, 2007 at 1:48 PM Why such affection for the state that Palestinians famously revile in media, in scholarship, classrooms, mosques, and international bodies, that they terrorize on a daily basis? Best to let them explain their motivations in direct quotations.
Financial considerations: “I don’t want to have any part in the PA. I want the health insurance, the schools, all the things we get by living here,” says Ranya Mohammed. “I’ll go and live in Israel before I’ll stay here and live under the PA, even if it means taking an Israeli passport. I have seen their suffering in the PA. We have a lot of privileges I’m not ready to give up.”
Law and order: Gazans, note Israeli-Arab journalists Faiz Abbas and Muhammad Awwad, now “miss the Israelis, since Israel is more merciful than [the Palestinian gunmen] who do not even know why they are fighting and killing one another. It’s like organized crime.”
Raising children: “I want to live in peace and to raise my children in an orderly school,” says Jamil Sanduqa. “I don’t want to raise my child on throwing stones, or on Hamas.”
A more predictable future: “I want to keep living here with my wife and child without having to worry about our future. That’s why I want Israeli citizenship. I don’t know what the future holds,” says Samar Qassam, 33.
Others raise concerns about corruption, human rights, and even self-esteem (“When the Jews talk about swapping me, it’s as though they are denying my right to be a person”).
These earnest views do not repudiate the vicious anti-Zionism that reigns in the Middle East, but they reveal that four-fifths of those Palestinians who know Israel at first-hand understand the attractions of a decent life in a decent country, a fact with important and positive implications.
Posted by Natalie on Jan 4, 2008 at 2:26 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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