Welcome Home Gilad!

Sorry for not updating as much as I should be. I have been crazy sick since coming here, 3 stomach illnesses. Right now I have a cold as well. Guess thats the problem with living in a dormitory style apartment. When one person becomes ill the rest catch it soon enough. I'm still having a fantastic time and my hebrew is slowly improving day by day.

I am lucky to be in Israel on such a historic time. The biggest news for the past week has been the release of Gilad Schalit. He is an Israeli soldier that was kidnapped by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza strip. He was held for 5 years without a single Red Cross visit and we are lucky to see him alive. All over Israel everyone is extremely happy to see him back, he just arrived a couple hours ago to Israel. In Israel everyone sees each soldier as their own brother, sisters, mother, father, etc. This is because everyone must serve in the army here and so when something happens to one soldier it is extremely personal for everyone.

The biggest debate about his release however is that Israel had to release 1,025 palestinian prisoners. This number is incredibly daunting, which shows how much they value life here and also it serves the promise that Israel will always bring back it's soldiers no matter what. Out of those 1,025 prisoners 200 of them have blood on their hands. Which means 200 of them are terrorists that successfully killed at least one person. One of these prisoners is a woman that coordinated the Sbarro suicide bombing that killed 15 innocent civilians and wounded 120. In fact I saw this woman in a movie only a month ago about the life of these prisoners in jail. When asked about her attack she said she killed 10. When the interviewer corrected her to 15 she gave a proud smile and said yes.

Sadly this deal had to be done since it seems Gaza is only getting worse and this could've been the last chance to make it. Gilad was gone for 5 years, kidnapped when he was 18. He was kidnapped during the most important years of his life. Years that most of us go to college, start our careers, and even some find their soul mates. I just pray that none of these prisoners released will return to a life of terrorism, but the statistics prove otherwise. Thankfully Israel is a much more secure country today than it was the last time a deal like this was made.

Sorry if this post is a little disorganized, I am a little loopy from my cold. However I felt that this was a pretty important post to make.