One Israeli prisoner for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. Something about this exchange just doesn’t add up. How is it that people are deeming this as a “humanitarian breakthrough” when in the face of reality it is just one of the many dehumanizing injustices Israel has committed against thousands of innocent lives? 

This exchange reflects the Israelis’ view of reality, that 1,027 Palestinians are worth one Jewish life, not because the Palestinians minimize the importance of their own lives, but because the Israeli Jews diminish the value of their lives. This is a mirror image of the prejudice Israelis harbor and which has enabled the immoral activities Israelis have sponsored for dozens of years against innocent Palestinians going about their daily lives.

Apparently, Gilad Shalit is considered a “hero” for enduring six years in jail. What about all the Palestinian women and children held captive by the Zionists? American media often tends to stray from the truth and paint a picture of ignorance geared toward what it wants the American people to believe. 

In the words of the great Malcolm X, “You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” It’s time for you Americans to wake up and smell the coffee. 

According to B’Tselem, The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, since the year 2000, 1,471 Arab children have been slain by Israeli Occupation in Palestine, whereas only 124 Israeli children died. Furthermore, 1,084 Israelis and at least 6,430 Palestinians have been killed since September 29, 2000. There seems to be a recurring pattern here at which the Palestinians always seem to be threefold at the unfortunate end of the ladder. 

Perhaps it is because the media and the American government have done such a good job of blinding its people that American citizens have no exposure to the truth and continue to blindly pledge allegiance to Israel. During the Fiscal Year 2011, the U.S. is providing Israel with at least $8.2 million per day in military aid and $0 in military aid to the Palestinians. 

Palestinian Arabs have endured far more than the Shalit could ever possibly have imagined. The innocent Palestinian soldiers who have lost many loved ones in sniper bombings and shootings should have been released a long time ago, even it means sacrificing one Israeli life. As the famous cliché goes, an eye for an eye and … well, a life for a life. Perhaps if the Israeli government wants to play the exchange game, then Hamas should capture 1,026 Israelis and hold them captive for the same amount of time the Palestinian prisoners faced.

Palestinian women and children are being shot every day, and Palestinian homes are being raided by Israeli snipers to no end. The Palestinian people have faced prison for simply living their lives. Palestinian men and women have been shot and tortured in front of their children by Israeli forces. No more words needed, nor imaginable. So America, when will you wake up from your slumber and stand up against these atrocities?