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Morocco: The Reality of Prostitution

Jillian C. York · 23:48 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → mk · de · zht · zhs · es

Morocco has the reputation of having a significant rate of prostitution. While it may not be as high as perceived by many in the Gulf countries, Morocco - with the dual distinction of being impoverished and highly touristic - is home to many young women seeking a “way out.” While some go abroad to study or work, others turn to prostitution. Many work in smaller towns in Morocco and are patronized mostly by fellow Moroccans; others become part of Morocco's large and unfortunate sex tourism industry, from which a number of cases are prosecuted each year. Still others turn to the wealthy Gulf countries for work; some make it as hairdressers or entertainers, but others end up - willingly or otherwise - as prostitutes.

One phenomenon in Morocco is that of the student-as-prostitute. Blogger Words For Change has written an excellent piece on the young rural women of Morocco who, finding themselves in the big city for university, end up involved in prostitution. An excerpt:

In the girls’ dorms, Aïcha learned how to dress, to put on make-up, and to talk like a woman. It is also in the university dorms that she was tempted to make some pocket money to pay for the pretty clothes which can make her look like city girls. The first step to the abyss was going out incognito with older men who invited her to good restaurants, and make her discover her charms and feminity. The deadly stab was when she discovered that she had to pay with her body for the few bills to realize her late adolescence fantasies.

Once Aïcha graduated, it was difficult to leave her well-paid night life for miserable desk work or to abandon the lights of the big city for a small house in Lhajeb. She told me with a bitter voice “When I was studying it was just to make pocket money. I didn’t realize that I am a prostitute until it became my full-time job after graduating”. Aïcha is still now living in the city and working as a prostitute to send money to her family and pay for her charges. Her education and beauty make very rich and well-known men from over the world pay for her services.

Another recent post, by Thejoker, touches on what a prostitute in Morocco looks like - anyone else:

There are in fact prostitutes, a simple word from you will turn them on and they will engage automatically a conversation. What is to deplorate is that many of these girls do study, have a poor family and do the job because of a great lack of money. I have seen once a girl, very young, who appeared to me to be virgin, she was scared someone approches her and at the end someone did speak to her, she continued to be fully contracted. It is a real pity what we see in the streets of Casablanca. Some moroccan people say that if a girl doesn't wear the tchadour [veil] then you can be sure that she is a prostitute. It is not like in Europe where the prostitute are recognised by the law. In Morocco it is a real melting pot we cannot know which girl is a prostitute and which girl is not. I suppose that there are some girls wearing jeans and western clothes and who are not prostitutes but every one has to search before finding real love.

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Kuwait: Blogs in the News

Abdullatif AlOmar · 23:36 · Middle East & North Africa

A local newspaper has started covering Kuwaiti blogs. In many countries, this might be perceived as a positive step but some Kuwaiti bloggers have their reservations.

According to Exzombie:

يحسب على الدكتور عدم حياديته في الطرح رغم توضيحنا له مرارا حول المجتمع التدويني الكويتي، فهو دائما يصور هذا المجتمع بان جمه ليبرالي رغم ان المدونات التي اعلنت توجهاتها تشكل نسبة ضئيلة من مجمل المدونات الكويتية، فضلا عن ان مدوناتنا الليبرالية لا تمثل سوى كسر بسيط من هذه المدونات، و تحامل غير مهني على الاخوان او الاقطاب الاسلامية و احتواء الكثير من ما يسطره من مغالطات دالة على سطحية الرؤية في المجتمع التدويني،

The doctor (PhD holder who runs the page) is not objective in his reporting even though we have explained to him the Kuwaiti blogging community several times. He always portrays it as being liberal - although the bloggers who have stated their ideologies are limited, compared to the size of the Kuwaiti blogosphere. Liberal blogs are a small fraction of the number of blogs. He is also unprofessionally biased against the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious bloggers. There are many mistakes in what he writes which show his shallow understanding of the Kuwaiti blogging community.

Krakatoa-q8 too has his reservations and says:

ثم طينها الاخ رئيس قسم التكنولوجيا و العلوم..بوضعه لمقابلة ( الله اعلم من اين اتى بها ) عن مقابلة مع مدون مصري؟؟!! لحظه لحظه..هل الكويت تعاني من قلة مدونين حتى تذهب الى ارض الكنانه وتقابل مدون مصري لانعلم اصله من فصله يتحدث في امور سياسية تخص دولة اخرى ونحن في الكويت وكمدونين لا نوصي بالتدخل بشؤون الدول الاخرى فلدينا مايكفينا من المشاكل والبلاوي والعلل، حنا شكو والمدونين المصريين..شنو دخل اهلنا فيهم..ماذا تريدنا يا جمال ان نتوقع مستقبلا ؟؟مقابلة مع مدون موزامبيقي او مقابلة مع مدون من جزر الاباطور مثلا؟؟

يجدر بالاشارة الى ان المقابلة مسرووقة حرفيا من موقع نافذة كارنغي على الشرق الاوسط..مع مدون اسمه ساند مونكي..يعني حتى اشارة الى المصدر..ماميش!!!!

The person in charge of the technology page has made the situation worse by publishing an interview (which only God knows where it came from) with an Egyptian blogger!! Hang on for a second! Are there no bloggers here for you to go to Egypt and interview a blogger we know nothing about, who speaks about the internal political affairs of another country?? We in Kuwait, as bloggers, don't recommend interfering in the affairs of other countries - because we have enough issues and concerns of our own. And Egyptian bloggers - what have we got to do with them? What else shall we expect from you in the future? An interview with bloggers from Mozambique?

It is worth mentioning that the interview has been lifted word to word from the Carnegie Endowment site on the Middle East. It is with a blogger called Sandmonkey and there isn't even a reference to the site it was taken from in the article!!

As You Like has another take on the issue and is concerned with the nationality of the page editor. He writes:

ظـهرت في الاسابيع الماضية صـفحة في جريدة القبس تهتم بشؤون المدونات، في بداية نشأة الصـفحة، اهتم الجريدة ببعض المدونات، مدونات نفـتخر بها نحن كـ مدونين، لكن ان يتم استغلال الصـفحة لصـعود الموجة، على حسابنا، فهذا مانرفضه، خصوصاً ان يكـون الصاعد على هذه الموجة شخص “عـراقـي” لايمت للكويت بصلة.

A new page, which focuses on blogs, appeared in Al Qabas newspaper over the previous few weeks. It focuses on a few blogs - blogs which we as Kuwaiti bloggers are proud of. But for this page to be abused to suck up to others at our expense is something we reject, especially when the person climbing up is an Iraqi, who has no relationship to Kuwait.

هذا الـعراقي، رأيت ردوده في احدى المدونات العزيزة علينا، يشـبه احدى الجماعات السياسية في الكويت بأنها “قذرة” وكـ”الزبالة”، وهذا ما لا نرضاه على ابناء الكويت، سواء اختلفنا معهم، ازدادت حدة النقاش بيننا، الا اننا نظل في الاخير كويتيين،.

I saw a comment by this Iraqi on one of our dear blogs, where he describes one of the political gatherings as “dirty” and “garbage” and this is something we don't accept on the people of Kuwait, even if we don't agree with them. Even if we argue, we remain at the end of the day Kuwaitis.

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Brazil: Bloggers question the 13 new cyber-crimes

Paula Góes · 20:39 · Americas

lingua → pt · es

In the small hours of last Thursday, July 10, the Brazilian Senate passed the ‘Digital Crimes Bill', which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable by law and stipulates penalties accordingly. The proposal will now be proceeding to the House of Representatives for a review of the last amendments, and the next step is its approval or veto (in full, or any of its articles).

Thanks to the pressure from many fronts, the initial draft proposed by Senator Eduardo Azeredo, which gathered unanimous rejection by the blogosphere, has been re-written for the better. The demand for user identification before they can take any action on the Internet, such as blogging, e-mailing or chatting, has been dropped, and some advances have even been made with the inclusion of an article to criminalize online racism.

On the other hand, many acts that would be considered trivial conduct when surfing the Internet are still typified as a crime, as explains blogger and lawyer Lu Monte [pt], while the online pedophilia issue, which was supposed to be the main motivation behind the new law, has been touched only superficially in just one of the proposed articles.

The Senate Press Relations Office issued a press-release [pt] to clarify some of the points and some blogs published a shorter version sent by e-mail to journalists:

“São 13 os novos crimes tipificados pela proposta: 1) acesso não autorizado a dispositivo de informação ou sistema informatizado; 2) obtenção, transferência ou fornecimento não-autorizado de dado ou informação; 3) divulgação ou utilização indevida de informações e dados pessoais; 4) destruir, inutilizar ou deteriorar coisa alheia ou dado eletrônico alheiro; 5) inserção ou difusão de vírus; 6) agravamento de pena para inserção ou difusão de vírus seguido de dano; 7) estelionato eletrônico (fishing); 8) atentado contra segurança de serviço ou utilidade pública; 9) interrupção ou perturbação de serviço telegráfico, telefônico, informático, telemático, dispositivo de comunicação, rede de computadores ou sistema informatizado; 10) falsificação de dados eletrônicos públicos e 11) falsificação de dados eletrônicos particulares (clonagem de cartões e celulares, por exemplo); 12) discriminação de raça ou de cor disseminada por meio de rede de computadores (alteração na Lei Afonso Arinos); 13) receptar ou armazenar imagens com conteúdo pedófilo (alteração no Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente).”

“A lei não se aplica a quem, por lazer ou trabalho, usa corretamente o computador, seja desenhando, seja baixando músicas, seja batendo-papo, seja dando opiniões em blogs, fazendo pesquisas ou quaisquer atividades semelhantes. O BOM USUÁRIO DEVE FICAR TRANQUILO, POIS NADA ACONTECERÁ A ELE, A NÃO SER O AUMENTO DE SUA SEGURANÇA, PELALEI, NO USO DAS TECNOLOGIAS.”

“There are 13 new crimes epitomized in the proposal: 1) non-authorized access to an information device or automated system, 2) obtaining, transferring or providing of non-authorized data or information, 3) disclosure or misuse of personal information and data; 4) destroying, making unusable or degrading other people's objects or electronic data, 5) introducing and distributing viruses, 6) severer sentencing for introducing or distributing of viruses followed by damage; 7) electronic deception (phishing), 8) attack on security service or public utility; 9) interruption or disruption of telephone, telegraph computer, or electronic services, communication device, computer networks or computer system, 10) falsification of electronic public data and 11) falsification of private electronic data (credit card and mobile phone cloning, for example), 12) discriminating against people regarding race or color disseminated through computer networks (amendment to the Afonso Arinos Law), 13) receiving or storing pictures with pedophile content (amendment to the Child and Adolescent Statute).”
“The law does not apply to those who, for leisure or work, use the computer in a correct manner, whether drawing, downloading music, chatting online, writing opinions on blogs, searching content or any similar activities. The good user can rest in peace because nothing will happen to them, apart from the increase in security, according to the law, when it comes to technology usage.

The text may have been amended but new questions keep pouring in. Sérgio Amadeu [pt] is looking forward to clarifications of the above points:

1) quem define o que é o “uso correto do computador”? O Senador Azeredo?
2) o que é exatamente “um acesso não autorizado a dispositivo de informação (faltou ele incluir comunicação) ou sistema informatizado”?
3) O que é infomação? Bom, um site possui informações, um game, um CD, um DVD também. Se um jovem pegar um vídeo no youtube ou em um DVD ele estará ou não violando um dispositivo de informação?
4) Se eu destruir o DRM de um aparelho qualquer para copiar uma imagem ou uma cena de vídeo estarei comentendo um crime perante a lei do Azeredo? Se burlar um DRM de um dispositivo de música para copiar a música em outro aparelho serei um criminoso? Se eu rippar um CD e passar as músicas para o meu computador estarei violando a Lei do Azeredo?
5) Quando acesso uma rede de TV a cabo e pego um personagem de um filme ou de uma série da TV para usar no meu blog ou para recriar uma nova história estarei “obtendo um acesso não-autorizado de dado ou informação”?
6) Quando distribuir numa rede P2P ou apenas publicar no meu blog um vídeo que baixei do youtube, uma música que remixei, uma ficção que reescrevi com os personagens do filme “Guerra nas Estrelas”, ESTAREI comentendo um CRIME de “obtenção, transferência ou fornecimento não-autorizado de dado ou informação”?
7) Se o Senador diz que a Lei dele não tem nada a ver com a ampliação exagerada do copyright, então prá que necessitamos dos dois primeiros tipos criminais que a assessoria do Senador destacou entre os 13 novos crimes criados?
8) Se é para evitar “roubo ou furto” de dados e senhas JÁ não seria suficiente o tipo criminal “3 divulgação ou utilização indevida de informações e dados pessoais”?

1) Who defines what “correct use of the computer” is? Senator Azeredo?
2) What exactly is “non-authorized access to an information (communication should be included here) device or automated system”?
3) What is information? Well, a website contains information, a game, a CD, a DVD too. If a youngster gets a video on youtube or on a DVD, will they be violating the information device or not?
4) If I destroy any apparatus' DRM to copy a picture or a video will I be committing a crime before the Azeredo Law? If I circumvent a music device's DRM, to copy the music to another device will I be a criminal? If I rip a CD and transfer the music to my computer, will I violate the Azeredo Law?
5) When I access a cable TV channel and pick up a character from a movie or a TV series to use it on my blog or to recreate a new story will I be “obtaining non-authorized data or information”?
6) When I distribute a video that I downloaded from youtube, a song that I remixed, a piece of fiction that I re-wrote with the characters from “Star Wars” to a P2P network or just post it on my blog WILL I be committing a CRIME of “obtaining, transferring or provision of non-authorized data or information”?
7) If the Senator says that the law has nothing to do with the excessive extension of copyright, then why do we need the first two types of criminal offenses that the Senator's PR team highlighted among the 13 new crimes created?
8) If it is to prevent “theft or stealing” of data and passwords would number “3) disclosure or misuse of personal information and data” not ALREADY be enough?

Ronaldo Lemos [pt], director of the Center for Technology & Society (CTS) at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) Law School and Project Lead for the Creative Commons in Brazil, provides his conclusions and some advice:

Em síntese, a imprecisão do texto e suas conseqüências imprevisíveis (algumas das quais listadas acima) demandam que sejam vetados no mínimo os artigos 285-A, 285-B, 163-A, parágrafo primeiro, Art. 6º, inciso VII, Artigo 22, III. Caso os artigos persistam, condutas triviais na rede serão passíveis de punição com penas de até 4 anos de reclusão.

In summary, the text's vagueness and its unpredictable consequences (some of which are listed above [on the post]) require that at least Articles 285-A, 285-B, 163-A, first paragraph, Art 6, item VII, Article 22, item III be vetoed. If these articles persist, [users] shall be liable for trivial conduct on the network and punished with sentences of up to 4 years' imprisonment.

(Say no to the Senador Azeredo project, iconography by Nick Ellis)

Bloggers and Internet users in general demand more transparency and are mobilizing to fight for it. However, there is still a lot of confusion around the issues and many people are still referring to the earlier pre-amendment text to question the law. This doesn't come as a surprise considering that the public has not been invited into the debate and that only agreeable people were allowed to attend the open sessions discussing the law at the Senate.

It is a general consensus that the matter was not debated enough, and to help with it a blog carnival against censorship [pt] has been called for next Saturday, July 19. The original text of the proposal, available here [pt], is being translated into English by a group of volunteers, in order to raise international awareness. Meanwhile, an online petition [pt] in defense of freedom and progress of knowledge on the Brazilian Internet created by some very respected Brazilian cyberculture academics and ativists [pt] has been signed by over 58,000 citizens in just one week.

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Global Voices introduces Executive Director, Ivan Sigal

Ethan Zuckerman · 17:54, July 17th, 2008 · Announcements

lingua → pt · zht · zhs · mk · de · it · bn · fr · es · fa

We're thrilled to announce that Ivan Sigal has joined Global Voices as Executive Director. Ivan comes to us from the US Institute of Peace, where he's been researching citizen media in conflict-prone parts of the globe. Prior to his time at USIP, Ivan spent several years with Internews, an international media development organization. With Internews, Ivan worked on projects in the former Soviet Union, was Regional Director for Central Asia and Afghanistan, Regional Director for Asia, and worked on development for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ivan Sigal, Georgia Popplewell. Both photographed at the Global Voices 2008 summit in Budapest by Global Voices board member, Joi Ito.

Global Voices has been searching for an Executive Director for the past year, transitioning the management of the project from co-founders Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman. In February, we promoted Georgia Popplewell, formerly our managing editor, to Managing Director, where she manages the day to day operations of our international community. Ivan will be working closely with Georgia, focusing on the long-term strategy of the project, on partnerships, fundraising and sustainability of the organization. We're thrilled to have the chance to work with someone so passionate about the potential of citizen media and knowledgeable about the global media environment.

Ivan is an award-winning photographer, currently working on a book on Central Asia. At our recent summit in Budapest, his workshop for bloggers on photography was one of our more popular events. Ivan has been blogging at Ivonotes, and we're looking forward to reading what he thinks about his new role, which he'll begin in mid-August.

Welcome to Global Voices, Ivan - we're glad to have you here.

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Blogger lampoons Senegalese singer's foray into politics

Jennifer Brea · 15:16 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → pt · fr · zht · zhs

Senegalese singer, Demba Dia, eying the mayoralty of a district in Dakar, has announced his own political party.

Blog Politique au Senegal thinks Dia's candidacy is hardly serious [Fr]…

…il ne cite personne, ne se fâche avec personne, ne se positionne par rapport à rien et n'a pas l'imagination débordante vu le programme qu'il se fixe.

…he names no one, is angry at no one, does not position himself in relation to anything and isn't exactly overflowing with imagination as judged by the platform he has laid out.

…but neither is politics in Senegal! (more…)

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Israel: Intense Emotions Over the Hezbollah Prisoner Exchange

Gilad Lotan · 13:59, July 17th, 2008 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → it · fr

Wednesday, July 16th, was a day of mourning all across Israel. Hopes for the slight possibility that the approved prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah will bring the two abducted soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, back home alive were shattered as their coffins were transported across the border. In return, Israel released several Lebanese terrorists, including Samir Kuntar who has been serving four life sentences for the murder of four Israelis in Nahariya, 1979. His release is extremely controversial because of the cold-blooded nature of his crime, comprehensively described by Smadar Haran in the following post: The World Should Know What He Did to My Family.

While Smadar Haran supports the prisoner exchange deal, claiming that she has no monopoly over suffering or justice, it has been intriguing to follow the different opinions and perspectives regarding this difficult topic. The return of the soldiers, regardless of their condition, fulfills an important central value of Israeli society - that the State of Israel will do its utmost to recover soldiers behind enemy lines - nonetheless it poses serious questions such as giving terrorist organizations an incentive to act again. In fact, The Jerusalem Post presents a troubling statistics, showing long-term consequence of such an exchange:

According to the Almagor Terror Victims Association, 854 of the 6,912 Palestinian terrorists released in confidence-building measures between 1993 and 1999 were subsequently arrested for acts of murder and terrorism (as of August 2003). In fact, 80 percent of the terrorists released committed criminal offenses related to terrorism, “whether as commanders, planners, or murderers.” Since the year 2000, 180 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists who had been released from Israeli jails. These statistics do not account for the hundreds more who were injured by these same recidivists.

There is much criticism over how the Israeli government handled this topic in the past two years. On the one hand, the government announced that it will “do anything” in its power to bring back the abducted soldiers. But on the other hand, the government declared that there will be absolutely no negotiations with the kidnappers.

Nadav Peretz writes a thoughtful post on the destructive role of Israeli media and the general public during the past months of negotiations:

The media unequivocally adopted the popular ‘bring the boys home' narrative. If this was the radio broadcaster who dedicated every song to them, or the newspaper which included their pictures on a daily basis - everyone broadcast that Israel has one national goal: to bring Regev, Goldwaser and Shalit home.

But it was known to everyone, 99% certainty, that both were dead - for many months. One did not need connections with the security entities in order to hear the rumors. In addition, this was also claimed, with no commitment, by the media. However, in order to not harm the families, and with media pressure, they were not announced as dead.

From the moment that the media supported the following two base assumptions - that we must bring the boys home, and that we cannot declare their death without 100% certainty - it was obvious that this story will end badly; especially with the current weak state of the government.

Politicians who knew they were negotiating for dead bodies, were forced to act as if they are in negotiations for live soldiers - knowing that they cannot fail in this negotiation. As a result, Israel had to fulfill Hizbollah's main request - release of Samir Kuntar in return for the soldiers' bodies.

Not only the media is to blame, but every one who placed a sticker with the soldiers' pictures on their car, every blogger who wrote that ‘it is absurd that we have not brought them back yet' - every one of you took part in this public campaign which led us to this day.

Yonatan also criticizes the government for lying about the soldiers' state, suggesting that they most probably knew about their death ahead of time. He suggests that instead of lying in attempt to raise National Morale, the Israeli government should have simply said: “Goldwasser and Regev are dead.”

Others criticize Israeli media for being disgraceful - turning this harsh tragedy and strategic dilemma into a soap opera.

Over the past day, Israeli media has been following the emotion-filled funerals of the two soldiers. Moreover, it has been covering the celebrations in the Palestinian territories reacting to Kuntar's release, who was
welcomed into Lebanon like a true hero. The Hebrew blogosphere is filled with strong emotions, both supporting and against the prisoner exchange deal. Below are translations of several picked posts:

perspective 1:

The State of Israel has known a substantial amount of abductions. And every time, the same moral question comes up: “to pay or not pay the price?”
Every side has their claims and answers. Until today I did not know to which side I belonged.
Until today.
Today I understood.
After the soldiers were returned (unfortunately) in coffins, you could literally hear the relief all across Israel. This massive rock that was released, for every person who cares about the situation here.
Today I realized: it is necessary to pay any price. Even the most hurtful.
And yes, it is difficult to see the monster, Samir Kuntar, entering Lebanon with song and dance, but the feeling from knowing that “our sons are home” cannot be substituted.
…
After the sad songs on the radio, and after we all felt truly a day of mourning, everyone will go back to their routine.
Another soldier will be captured, another prime minister will change, another war, bombing… you know, our routine.
And we will not remember anymore who Udi and Eldad were.
It is sad. But this is how they ball spins.

perspective 2:

אתה חופשי, סמיר קונטאר, חופשי לרצוח, לחזור הביתה ולחייך אך תיזכור את התינוקת הקטנה של גרמה שום נזק לך או למשפחתך.
נתתם לו עשרות מאסרי עולם אך שיחררתם אותו ביום אחד…
רק אחדים יודעים למה עשית את זה אולמרט…
בך ראש ממשלה המכובד הוא לא יפגע אך האזרחים הפשוטים יסבלו בגלל מעשייך.

You are free, Samir Kuntar - free to murder, to go back home smiling. Just remember the little baby who did you or your family no harm. You gave him several life sentences, but released him in a single day… Only a handful of people know why you did this, Olmert… He will never harm you, honorable Prime Minister. However the simple citizens will suffer from the consequences of your actions.

perspective 3:

זה פשוט לא יוצא לי מהראש

“דמעות של עצב בישראל, דמעות שמחה בלבנון”
יבוא יום, והם ייתבישו בהתנהגות שלהם

היום הזה פתח את פצע המלחמה מחדש, לפחות אצלי
הדבר היחיד שיכול “לסגור” את הפצע הזה
זה החזרתו של גלעד שליט

It simply does not leave my head.
Tears of sorrow in Israel - Tears of joy in Lebanon
The day will come, and they will be ashamed of their behavior.
This day has opened up the wound from the war again, at least for me. The only thing that can close it, is the return of Gilad Shalit.

perspective 4:

גם אני האמנתי שהם בחיים.
התפללתי בשבילם.
חיכיתי כל כך שיחזרו הביתה, ושכולם ישמחו…
שירדו דמעות של אושר.
ושבו בנים לגבולם.
מתים.
מי יודע כמה זמן, מי יודע איך, מי יודע למה ?
מי יודע כמה הם סבלו שם, מי יודע כמה התעללו בהם ?
ומי יידע לספר ?
עכשיו, כשבלבנון החגיגות, כאן בישראל..
מחפשים אשמים.

I also believed that they are alive. I prayed for them. Waited to celebrate when they come home… to cry tears of happiness.
The sons have returned to their land.
dead.
Who knows how long, how or why?
Who knows how much they suffered there, how much they were tortured?
And who will be able to tell?
As there are celebrations in Lebanon, here in Israel… we are looking for who to blame.

17 year old Litalush writes:

החטופים מתים-כל תקווה שהייתה בליבי התפוצצה כאילו לא הייתה.
ישבתי שעות מול הטלוויזיה והדמעות לא הפסיקו לצאת .
לא הפסיקו לצאת למראה השמחה של החיסבאללה הנבלות האלה החסרות לב.
והדמעות המשיכו לפרוץ לנוכח הארונות השחורים….

אני יסכם את היום הזה ויגיד שוב.שהיום היה כואב וקשה .
אך עכשיו יש לי בטחון במדינה שכאשר אני יהיה חיילת תהיה לי מדינה שתעמוד מאחורי.

The abducted are dead. All hope that was in my heart exploded as if it never existed.
I sat in front of the television and the tears did not stop… did not stop with the images of Hizbollah's celebrations.
And the tears kept coming, with the black coffins…

I will summarize this day by writing again and again that today was difficult and hurtful.
But now I am confident in my country, that when I will be a soldier, my country will stand behind me.

From the Facebook group Free Ehud Goldwasser, Gilad Shalit and Eldad Regev

After the rest of the family members left Olmert's office, Karnit Goldwasser, Ehud's wife, stayed behind. She went up to Olmert, shook his hand, and with red-rimmed eyes said: “I've been fighting for two years, and I feel that in the end, even if I won, what has it all been for? So I can shout ‘Hooray, I'm a widow'?”
Olmert listened, and the tears coursed down his cheeks.

The debate in Israel is still intense - is it fair to release prisoners who have blood on their hands, especially in return for dead bodies? As you can see above, there is no clear opinion, within the general public nor within the government.
What do you think?

Other GV Posts:
Lebanon: Return of Prisoners

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