The Human rights records of almost all Muslims Countries are far worse than Israel but that doesnt seem to bother you?? Israel allows minorities to practice there religions freely, vote and allows women and gays equal rights too...this doesn't happen in any Muslim country where we see human rights abuses daily, its like talking about the weather - but noone gives a stuff. http://www.online-legal-info.com/

"...free Palestine.­.." writes the poster.

In more than one way, such a country has been in existence for many decades. But to fully understand it, one must appreciate the legal-history of the evolving of the subject.

In the beginning of the 20th century the geographic region called "Palestine­" consisted of present day Jordan-Isr­ael-WestBa­nk-Gaza. And, on this basis the Balfour Declaratio­n was issued in 1917, calling for "Palestine­" to be the "national home for the Jewish people".

The Balfour Declaratio­n was then incorporat­ed into the San Remo Conference decisions, 1920, the first truly legal document.

But, Britain that controlled the region, instead, handed over 78% of "Palestine­" to the Muslim-Ara­bs in which to establish an independen­t Muslim-Ara­b state there, that today is called Jordan.

The League of Nations, 1922, in its resolution of that year incorporat­ed the San Remo Conference decisions viewing, legally, the rest, 22% of the geographic region called "Palestine", as "the national home for the Jewish people", or the nation-sta­te of the Jewish people if you will, to use present day terminology.

The United Nations that replaced the League of Nations in 1945 adopted the League of Nations's resolution­s, not to be changed, thus etching in the corpus called 'internati­onal law' the fact that the nation state of the Jewish people must include present day Israel-Wes­tBank-Gaza (22% of "Palestine­") while the rest, (78% of "Palestine­") now called Jordan is legally the independen­t Muslim-Ara­b country that some seek.

P.S. The History of the Words "Palestine" and "Palestinians"

Is Jordan Palestine? Here are two Jordanian State Stamps. On the left, one from 1949 with a picture of King Abdullah of the kingdom of Jordan and bears the label of Palestine in English and Arabic. On the right, a 1964 stamp bearing the likeness of King Hussein and pictures Mandated Palestine as an undivided territory including both present day Israel and Jordan.

http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/meaning.html

And some posters here are nothing but Muslim-hating scum. Swatantra - why are peaceful protestors in Biln and other places being repressed brutally by the Israelis? Why are extremist Jewish zionist settlers attacking and killing Palestinian farmers (terrorists, then are they not by your definition)? And most importantly, those who complain about 'terrorism' - exactly how was the state of Israel created - some of you need to look up 'Ergun' and 'Stern' - see what they did to British soldiers. And now we say 'terrorism' doesn't pay and don't talk/capitulate to terrorism - well the Israeli zionist terrorists showed that it bloody well did pay to bomb British soldiers to pieces. I guess the Muslim-haters here approve of zionist terrorism (then and now) so you are traitors to the blood of the fallen.

maxinemf - you don't even know Israel or anything about it, just some anti-Israel propaganda that you spout some spurious claims about it that are easily said.

The Human rights records of almost ALL Muslims Countries are FAR FAR FAR FAR worse than Israel but that doesnt seem to bother you??

Israel allows minorities to practice there religions freely, vote and allows women and gays equal rights too...this doesn't happen in any Muslim country where we see human rights abuses daily, its like talking about the weather - but noone gives a stuff.

How dare any of them lecture Israel and tell them

2011.10.19 (Lahj, Yemen) - al-Qaeda militants bomb a market, killing two civilians.
2011.10.19 (Badghis, Afghanistan) - A father and son are among three civlians ripped apart by a suicide bomber.
2011.10.18 (Karachi, Pakistan) - Three seminary students are shot dead in a suspected sectarian attack.
2011.10.18 (Mosul, Iraq) - A Shiite baker is murdered by Sunni hardliners.
2011.10.18 (Mogadishu, Somalia) - A Holy Warrior detonates himself along a city street, cutting down four innocents.
2011.10.18 (Karachi, Pakistan) - A 32-year-old Shiite is murdered by Sipah-e-Sahaba assassins.

In response to Judah, stating factual inaccuracies is what Israel has thrived and survived on for many years. I simply cannot allow your falsehoods to go unchallenged.
Fact One: What you omitted to mention in respect of the Balfour Declaration was that a Jewish state should be encouraged to develop provided it did not undermine the rights of the indigineuous Arab population.
Fact Two: Whichever way you want to dress it up, indigenous Arabs which numbered some 900,000 by the time the Jewish state was established, were living in what is now known as the state of Israel.
Fact Three: These indigenous Palestinians were not living in the West Bank or Gaza. They were living inside the borders of Israel. There are numerous historical documents which attest the existence of a settled Arab population living in side the borders of Israel for many thousands of years.
Fact Four: There is ample documentary evidence to show that the indigenous settled Arab population pre dated any subsequent Jewish settlement.
Fact Five: Using the old tired argument that Jordan is Palestine means that technically speaking Palestine proper should include both Israel and Jordan.
Fact Six: It is generally recognised by most historians that the Balfour Declaration was not a legal document and was in effect a statement of political intent by the governing UK political party.
Fact Seven: We have to set the establishment of the state of Jewish state in Mandate Palestine within the context of the colonial British Empire period. Fast forwarding into the twenty first century, it is inconceivable that it would be acceptable that an Arab population of close to a million should be driven out of a country to make way for an incoming Jewish settler community. I believe the term we could use now is: ethnic cleansing. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues to this day.
Fact Eight: The past and current Israeli government policy of building settlements on land which is deemed illegal by international law represents a continuation of the ethnic cleansing programme started by Theodore Herzl one of the architects of the Zionist Project.

In response to Sebastien, if we are going to talk of terror attrocities, I would argue that the pariah state of Israel tops the list. Far more Palestinians have been murdered by Israelis. That is a fact. You make no mention too of the evil Zionist settlement community who are committed to the greater Israel project and want to see mass evacuation of 4 millions from Gaza and the West Bank. I would call the throwing of excrement by Jewish settlers over Palestinian children in Hebron who are simply on their way to school, the ultimate act of terrorism!!!!

How is it that anyone who tries to offer any kind of support to the Palestinian people, is always labelled as anti semitic, bigoted, a holocaust denier etc etc. Most fair minded people in the world do support the right of the Palestinian to statehood. By the way use of the term Moslem is a pejorative and smacks of previous colonial times. Muslim is the correct term to use for followers of Islam.

Its the Stockholm Syndrome, instance john McCarthy and Terry Waite, prisoners understand the trials and tribulations that their captors are put under.
But also spare a thought for the hundreds of innocent victims of mass bombings and killings by the Palestinian freedom fighters; why can't they learn to fight fair and attack legitimate targets?
Lets hope this brave move by Israel and Gaza leaders is a move towards rapproachment.
I hope they can learn the lessons of N Ireland when the arch enemies Paisley and Adams decided to work together for Peace. It can work if the will is there; but alas the Israelis are simply not interested.

the ratio of 1000:1 speaks volumes. Israel just doesn't give a shit about established human values and is essentially morally bankrupt. it breaks my heart.

We need to be clear here: Israel is a pariah state, just like South Africa in the 1990's

Egyptian TV interviewer asks Shalit in presence of armed Hamas men if he'll work for release of more Palestinian prisoners

The interview was but one parting shot of psychological warfare. The report below says Shalit had been "freed," but that armed, masked Hamas members were still in the area, and as shown above, they were still in the room.

The questions range from asinine to abusive. The Egyptians and Hamas could not help but make Shalit, as obviously frail as he was, jump through one more hoop where he must have worried Hamas might change its mind or add additional complications if he said the wrong thing.

The director of Egyptian state TV, which has already shown its readiness to be party to abuses of human rights recently, claimed in a New York Times report that it was just too juicy a story to pass up. Shalit was not "free" at that point, however, and what the Egyptians could also not pass up was the chance to stand between the hostage soldier and his family and country that much longer.

following my post above, let me share with readers important dates, all of which represented peace offers or opportunities for an peaceful coexistence between Arab and Jew, and all have been rejected by the Arabs:

1917, Balfour Declaration

1920, San Remo Conference

1922, League of Nations decisions

1937, Peel Commission proposal

1947, UN resolution

1948, Israel's offer

1967, Israel's offer

1978, Begin/Saadat offer

2000, Barak/Clinton offer

20005, Sharon gesture

2008, Olmert/Bush offer

2009-present, Netanjahu's offer to talk peace

And, in addition, between the years 1948 to 1967, when the now disputed territories were "cleansed" of their former Jewish residents and ruled exclusively by the Muslim-Arabs, no independent Palestinian state was set up there and Jerusalem was not proclaimed its capital city. But, in 1964, three full years before Israel captured the now disputed territories in the defensive Six-Day War, 1967, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was set up. Which part of "Palestine" was this organization to "liberate"...??

It is high time people of reason and good will faced reality!!

One Israeli exchanged for over a thousand Islamist terrorists. Seems like a fair exchange. The thousand islamists include people who organized terror attacks that targeted children on buses, in restaurants and outside a discotheque attended by teenagers. And the amoral including islamists commenting above applaud the release of killers of children. They do so because they are anti-Semitic scum who like Article 7 of the islamofascist Hamas Charter openly believe that all Jews should be killed.

i thought this was an inteligent paper. some of the coments obove show the readership isnt at all

Looks like Xmas has come early for both Hamas and Israel. Lets hope they learn from this exchange of 1000 Palestinians and one Israeli, and work towards a peaceful settlement, with Jerusalem declared an International City in its own right, rather like Monaco or the Vatican.
We could all do with a bit of a rest from these internecine squabbles in that region which has upset the rest of the World.

Your interpretation of the interview on Egyptian State TV is not one that I recognise. Had it not been for the Egyptians,and their good relations with Hamas, Shalit would never have been freed. Let us not forget too that Shalit was arrested on the battlefield, so his detention was legitimate. Note the propoganda that Shalit despite feling frail, malnourished etc could still muster the energy for that photo call with Netanyahu, mustering a fully fledged salute in full Israeli uniform as if his life depended on it. I for one will not shed any tears for Shalit. Israel has its own brutal methods of detention. I am reminded of the case of Marwan Bargouthi, imprisoned since 2004. He was kept in solitary confinement for four years, and was placed in a windowless cell, with rats running along the outside wall. Oh sorry I forgot most Jewish Zionists think that the Palestinians are lower than rats and so deserve this treatment anyway!!!!!!!

maxinemf, your right, some Muslims are lower than Rats but its insulting too Rats who can make nice pets.