Gilad Shalit

Welcome home to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldeir kidnapped by Hamas and held for 5 years in captivity in Gaza before being released this week in exchange for 1000 Palestinian prisoners, many of them convicted murderers.

There's been lots of debate about whether Israel should have done the deal.  It's a steep price to pay, and of course encourages future kidnappings of more Israeli soldeirs and civilians.  It's certainly clear (as it has been before) that Israel "negotiates with terrorists", and it even came into the recent Republican debate, as candidates were asked about hypothetical deals for American prisoners.

But I have to wonder: does release of these murderers, even so many, really imperil Israel's security?  I've read that the true leaders were not among the released (Bargouthi being the most well-known).  But it seems to me that there is no shortage of young men and women in Gaza willing to die if only they can take some Jews with them into paradise.  I don't think a shortage of volunteers is what limits terrorism by Palestinians- it's opportunity and means.  It could be that letting out a bunch of grunts won't have much effect on the operational capability of Hamas or Fatah.

Just speculation from here- I don't pretend to be knowledgeable about these types of security matters, but those are my thoughts anyway.