The Hizballah Kidnapping Connection
A fairly unbiased piece at the Christian Science Monitor (for a change) makes a good point about the Palestinian kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit: Israel goes after both Hamas leaderships.
[Hamas expert Magnus] Ranstorp also believes that Sunday’s kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, which was the catalyst for the heightened hostilities, looks like it was learned from a Hizbullah handbook. “Hamas has coordination with Hizbullah, and that is very important. Hizbullah is an auxiliary force of Hamas, and it provides tactical inspiration.
“I’m not suggesting that Hizbullah is behind this kidnapping, but what I’m seeing is the ideal of kidnapping a soldier and using him to highlight the prisoner issue, and that’s a very classic Hizbullah repertoire.”