Word: shalit
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...stated aim of the Israeli campaign at its outset was to free Cpl. Gilad Shalit, a soldier captured by militants during a raid on an army outpost on the Israeli side of the border. Israel has conducted air strikes throughout the Gaza Strip, but the initial focus of the ground effort was on the south, where it is believed Shalit is being held. Further incursions soon followed in northern Gaza, provoking intense fighting in the neighborhoods of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, just inside the border with Israel. Israeli officials say their purpose in the north is to prevent militants...
That, in part, explains the ardor of the Israelis' effort to find Shalit. Olmert, who took office after Ariel Sharon's stroke in January, had little choice but to go into Gaza, given the Israeli public's deep identification with the army, in which most Israeli citizens have served. Lacking any counterpart on the Palestinian side that it trusts, Israel has taken a "shake the trees" approach, putting as much pressure as possible on the government and civilian population in the hopes that someone would turn on Hamas. But it's difficult to see how some Israeli tactics, particularly...
...more militant factions, which would prefer to abandon the political process and return to armed struggle. "This will help Hamas because they have been saying they do not trust the Israelis," says Saied Zourob, an official in Gaza who belongs to Fatah, the party of Abbas, who called for Shalit's release. "Abbas has been saying that people should respect them and the peace process, but now the Israelis are pushing people toward Hamas and the resistance...
Mashaal, who lives in Damascus under Syrian protection, is suspected by the Israelis of having ordered militants to kidnap Corporal Gilad Shalit and take him to the Gaza Strip, although Hamas and other Arab officials insist Mashaal was not directly involved. The Israelis believe he ordered the high-stakes hostage taking to scupper attempts by the Hamas-led government to join in unity talks with moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that would implicitly recognize Israel's right to exist...
Palestinian sources tell TIME it's more likely that Shalit's abduction was planned by a radical Palestinian faction that believes Hamas' leaders were giving away too much to the Israelis. Whatever the case, the Israelis have made it clear that as long as their young soldier is a hostage, Mashaal's life is in danger...