Last week, driving back from Jerusalem, I passed Ofer Prison. The notorious, high security facility is situated very close to the Qalandiya crossing between Israel and Ramallah. I noticed that the roads had been blocked in preparation for the release of the first batch of  Palestinian prisoners in a “goodwill gesture” from Israel.

These are not political prisoners or petty criminals; these are terrorists with blood on their hands, who carried out or were instrumental in the murder of Israelis.

My heart felt heavy. I could only think about the bereaved families who would have to relive the trauma of their loved one’s death yet again, the justice they had so hoped for being slowly eroded.

What about their human rights? They have become pawns for deluded leaders who think that such magnanimous gestures will make a difference to a partner who has declared its intentions of a “Judenrein” (Jew Free) country.

This is the price that we have to pay for a peace that many of us are skeptical about. Israel has made painful concessions for peace over and over, all of which have yielded no practical results.

In fact, this August marks eight years since the disengagement from Gaza. Israel removed all citizens from the troubled area (including digging up the dead). What was our reward?  Thousands of rockets raining down on our Southern towns. So much for extending an outstretched hand towards peace!

No other country in the world would be expected to make such concessions towards peace. Once again, Israel is held to an impossible double standard. Would the U.S. release Ramzi Yousef, perpetrator of the 1993 bombing on the World Trade Center? Would the murderers who slaughtered Lee Ribgy in the streets of London in broad daylight be released anytime soon?  How about Boston bomber, Tsarnaev? I think not.

The expectation is reserved for Israel alone , and we are expected to make concession after concession in the pursuit for peace.

The world is eerily silent on the Palestinian training camps that produce these murderers. No kumbaya around the campfire for these children. Instead, a heavy diet of Jew-hatred, plots to kidnap Israeli soldiers, and the extolling of martyrdom is prescribed for these Palestinian children.

In my opinion it is child abuse. The indoctrination of innocent young minds robbed of their childhood. These are not future nation builders, these are future cannon fodder for terror groups. But should Israel build just one apartment in East Jerusalem….

Let us have a look at the type of individuals who will be released back into society and their list of illustrious achievements. These are the men who murder Holocaust survivors, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, tourists, and others with impunity.

These are the men who stab, shoot, hack, and desecrate the bodies of their victims by claiming body parts as trophies. Their names will not be immortalised here but their acts are mentioned to serve as a warning to the rest of the world as to the kinds of “people” we are dealing with.

The price that we pay is more than we can bear. Our collective hearts are with the families of the victims whose trauma never ends and is exacerbated at a time like this.

Their tear stained faces broke our hears as they protested outside Israel’s Supreme Court, holding up pictures of their loved ones. As we continue with each phase of these releases, it becomes more and more incumbent on us to remember the victims and their families.

Heavy is the heart of the Israeli people. Painful is the price we pay for peace.

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