UN Resolution 1701 demands the unconditional release of the kidnapped soldiers from Lebanon.

And yet, the three soldiers remain in the hands of terrorists, and it is now three-quarters of a year and counting.

Words, in this case, have proven meaningless—on all sides

Not quite meaningless. The longer the three are in captivity, the longer the PA has to wait for financial assistance. The Palestinian civil war we are seeing right now most likely is a fight over the diminishing spoils, and the longer the embargo last, the harder Fatah and Hamas will fight each other, and the more support they are going to lose. Once they start dismantling their own infrastructure to sell the parts, like they did with the greenhouses in Gaza, they’ll be finished.

At the same time Israel is looking increasingly better

And while the words about Shalit are welcome, words are words. The EU and the rest of the world have been saying that Hamas should release Gilad Shalit for months. UN Resolution 1701 demands the unconditional release of the kidnapped soldiers from Lebanon.

And yet, the three soldiers remain in the hands of terrorists, and it is now three-quarters of a year and counting.

Words, in this case, have proven meaningless—on all sides, including Israel’s, where Olmert said he would not stop the war until he got his kidnapped soldiers back.

Uh-huh.

at least once in a while you could give us some credit:

ROUNDUP: Merkel urges release of Israeli soldier in Abbas talks

Berlin (dpa) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday there was “a very difficult road ahead” in the Middle East peace process and called for the release of an Israeli soldier abducted along the border with the Gaza Strip in June 2006.

“There is much to do ahead … on the road to a two-state solution,” the chancellor said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin.

Abbas acknowledged that progress had to be made on the key principles demanded by the Middle East Quartet – comprising the UN, US, EU and Russia – before a Palestinian national unity government could be formed in terms of the February 8 Mecca agreement between his Fatah and the radical Hamas.

Merkel welcomed the unity government but said it had to abide by the three principles of recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Merkel stressed these conditions should be accepted “by Hamas as well” and backed a central role for the Quartet. Germany currently holds the EU presidency.

Turning to the abduction of Israel Defence Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Merkel said: “It is important that soldier Shalit be released from captivity and thus a process of of prisoner exchange be initiated.”

The release of Shalit “could set things moving,” Merkel said.

Abbas backed Shalit’s release. “I stress that Shalit must be released unconditionally,” he said.

He agreed with Merkel that missile attacks on Israel and the smuggling of weapons into the Palestinian territories had to be stopped.

So far as dealings with Israel are concerned, a HAMAS-led government isn’t any less “moderate” than a FATAH-led government. They’re both cut from the same “take what you can get now, work on getting more later when you’re stronger, and in the meanwhile indoctrinate your society to hate Israel and everything that she stands for” cloth. The only difference is that FATAH is slightly better at double-talk. But only slightly. The double-talk is clear enough to anyone who listens attentively. But nobody of consequence does listen, lest they wind up with no “moderates” with whom to deal.

FATAH isn’t even a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s a wolf that bleaches its coat white, confident that it will be embraced by a world desperately seeking (or, in some cases, pretending to seek) a sheep.

Well, the comma is placed so that it appears to be saying that the PA will reject violence—and international law, and all previous agreements with Israel. The word “respecting” before international law would have been a better way to write it.

Except that the way they wrote it is more honest as to what the PA intends to do.