Editorial: A new twist on take no prisoners

Issue of Jan. 30, 2009 / 5 Shevat 5769

That didn't take long. About a week after Israel ended its operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and withdrew, a roadside bomb killed a soldier Tuesday and wounded others. It's not clear if the explosive was planted before or after the ceasefire took effect but, as it turns out, the point is probably moot since a Hamas leader quoted in the Jerusalem Post Tuesday said his group had not agreed to a ceasefire after all, but only to a "lull" in the fighting.

To dispute that seemingly revisionist claim (Hey! They did so agree to a ceasefire!) is to admit to not paying attention all along to how Hamas, or other Arab leaders in the West Bank and Gaza, do business every day.

A nice thing would be to learn that George Mitchell, newly appointed as Mideast envoy by President Obama, has been paying attention. Given his past history as purveyor of rose-tinted "peace plans," included the so-called "roadmap," we're not getting our hopes up.

This week Mitchell began his first trip to the region as a representative of the new administration, "fully empowered," in the President's words, to speak for Mr. Obama and for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The President acknowledged, before Mitchell's departure, that his envoy "has a very tough job" but that he would "engage vigorously" in pursuit of real progress, as opposed to "photo ops."

The President, the Secretary and Senator Mitchell would do well to note a chilling instruction given to Israeli troops before they went into Gaza last month. The newspaper Yediot Achronot reported that soldiers were told to kill themselves or fellow soldiers rather than allow anyone to be kidnapped by Hamas.

"No matter what happens, no one will be kidnapped," Yediot quoted a company commander as telling troops before the fight. "We will not have a Gilad Shalit 2."

Corporal Shalit, of course, is still being held by Hamas three years after his kidnapping. For whatever reason known only to the government of Israel, he was not rescued during a three-week period during which troops presumably might have had opportunities to retrieve him.

Instead, Shalit remains as a bargaining chip against the Hamas demand that Israel free hundreds of terrorists from its prisons.

It's hard to imagine a government feeling the need to issue a James Bond-like suicide order to troops heading into action but apparently that's what occurred. The administration, as well as Israel's critics, would do well to consider why.