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Which would match with their previous experience of hostage taking, which was the odd Israeli soldier, mostly. I also think Hamas have struggled to feed and keep secure all these hostages, several escaped during bombings etc. And it hasnt really got them anything, other than a much higher level of hatred, than the normal level.A few thoughts on the recent hostage deal.
Earlier on this thread I made a few posts about how this war can be viewed as a horrible case of our (us vs Palis) mutual misunderstanding.
I've been wondering since the beginning of the hostage deal why would they give up the biggest strategic asset (from our perspective) - the women and children, given our incredible sensitivity and vulnerability when it comes to them being hostages. I start coming to realization that this was yet another case of them utterly failing to understand us.
In short, in the ME Arab,and especially Bedouin, culture (about 80% of Gazans are Bedouins) women occupy the lowest possible place in tribal social hierarchy - essentially a tribe owned baby making resource, a walking womb. A little illustration: if a Bedouin asked how many children he has, in most cases the answer wouldn't even include the daughters. Also, the honor killings, polygamy, trading brides for cattle etc etc.
My thesis, they simply didn't quite understand that by giving us back the women and children (from their perspective a borderline meaningless gesture, a total bargain) they relieve us from our biggest, most acute pain (and accordingly internal pressure), when it comes to hostages - essentially giving Israel freedom of action until the war is finished. From their perspective the men, especially the soldiers, are the strategic asset they are supposed to keep until the end, when the final deal is going to be worked out.
They traded 100 of them for a short term break, which Israel has also enjoyed.