Some might remember The Daily Pulse, a regular column I used to write, rounding up editorial content from around the country and around the world. Now I resurrect it once in a while, when it seems like a good time to look around a bit.  This is one of those times.

Yesterday Isreal and Lebanon had an exchange.  Israel received the bodies of two of its soldiers, and Lebanon received bodies and prisoners, including Samir Qintar.  Israel received the bodies with great mourning.  Lebanon, and particulary Hizbullah, received Qintar and others with great celebration.  Who is Samir Kuntar, and what does each nation's reaction tell us about the ongoing dispute in the Middle East?  

Today's Daily Pulse will be a bit different, as it will include front page content as well as editorials. I am limited to English-language papers, so probably miss a lot. Sorry, it's the best I can do.

Former President Jimmy Carter, speaking in Cairo, stated the obvious: the blockade of Gaza is a "crime" and an "atrocity," Reuters reports.

"It's an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. it's a crime... I think it is an abomination that this continues to go on," Carter said.

Since the blockade is aimed at punishing civilians, the Carter's statement that the blockade is a crime is simply a statement of fact. It's a clear violation of international law.

But when someone with access to the microphone states an important fact which is not being acknowledged, they deserve attention.

Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Eli Yishai just threw a bombshell Friday morning (Israel time), when he let the media know he asked Jimmy Carter help arrange a meeting with Hamas leaders.

Yishai is not exactly the dove of the Israeli cabinet, to put it mildly. He is the leader of Shas - a fundamentalist party of Middle-Eastern origin Jews - the third-largest and most stable force in Israeli politics since the 1990's. In its domestic appeal and social-aid activity patterns, Shas resembles Hamas and Hizbullah - but of course it has no violent military wing.

Since 2000 Shas has tracked a hard right-wing line. In the 1990's, it was known to be pragmatic at times.

Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai asked former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to tell Hamas leaders, including Khaled Meshal, that he would like to meet in order to expedite a prisoner exchange that would bring home kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

Now Obama's cowardly, last-moment decision to hop on the Carter-bashing bandwagon looks even more stupid.

Two dogmas have ruled Israeli policies for decades: "Always deal with only one Arab nation, and avoid meeting together with all of them," and "Never allow for a permanent international peace conference because it might push us into corners from which we cannot escape." The result has been a "wait-and-see" strategy that assumes that time is on our side.

But "wait and see" is no longer an option.  
http://www.haaretz.com/...

Olmert and Company will not meet with the Arab League because they will not agree to the Saudis conditions to include Hamas. Yet Hamas says: "give us a try".

Charles Levinson put a very interesting post up yesterday discussing Hamas's release of the Gilad Shalit audiotape in the context of the prisoner release announced by Olmert.  In Levinson's view, the net effect may be to strengthen Hamas and weaken the US/Israel/Fatah strategy to isolate the Islamists.

Quotes and commentary on the other side...

Hamas and Israel have reached a deal under which the captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed in exchange for Israel freeing 450 Palestinian detainees.

Shalit's capture was the trigger that prompted Israel to launch Operation Summer Rains against Palestinian targets in Gaza.

There's a new BBC article on Gilad Shalit up and it contains a quote that is absolutely devastating.

I had something different planned for today, but I think I will write some about this instead.

More below the flip:

  If Israelis wonder why there is continuing violence perpetrated against them by Palestinians, they have to look no  further than the acts their government has taken in the past week.  Israeli military actions against ordinary Palestinians in Gaza can be characterized as at best, an overraction to a wrong done to Israeli, and, at worst, acts of terrorism.  Attacks such as took place this past week engender a lasting hatred and fear in the hearts of Palestinians against Israel.  Indeed, I believe that Israel is acting as its own worst enemy.
 

On June 28, 2006 the Israel Defense Forces reentered the Gaza Strip ostensibly to win the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit. Corporal Shalit had been kidnapped by Palestinian militants 3 days earlier. The Israeli operation has been codenamed "Operation Summer Rain".

Will the war everyone has been waiting for truly ignite?  How will the rest of the Middle East react to the invasion?  Why do I have a bad feeling about this?