It Won't Take Much for the Shalit Deal to be a Disaster

I'm shaking my head right now.  1,000 Palestinian criminals/terrorists in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit is such a tremendous price to pay.  After all, it will only take one small terrorist attack by one of the released prisoners for this deal not to have been worth it.  And we know that there won't just be 1 or 2 victims of this release.  I definitely feel for Gilad Shalit and his family, both have essentially been in hell these last 5 years but the Prime Minister of Israel needs to consider what is best for his entire country, not what is best for one family.  In this regard, Netanyahu has failed miserably.  There is just no way that this deal makes any sense!  We are talking about the release of between 15-20% of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, some of them facing lengthy prison sentences (probably for horrific crimes).  What is he going to tell the families of the future victims of terrorism?  Why should scores of innocent men, women and children be volunteered to give their lives for the sake of one of their countrymen?

And if logic isn't good enough to convince you that this is a bad deal for Israel, just take a look at how Hamas is acting.  They are acting like giddy little school girls (granted, hairy homicidal school girls) calling this a "national achievement".  And what is to stop them from doing this again?  It's not like it is really that difficult for them to sneak across the border and steal someone.  Or they could kidnap a vacationing Israeli somewhere outside the borders.  Clearly based on this deal, any investment of resources would be worth it.  What I would have preferred would be a resumption of the campaign of assassination of the Hamas leadership until Shalit were freed.  Or at least use his release as a precondition for the resumption of talks.  Just about anything would have been better than complete surrender.