peace.

I decided to go to foxnews.com, pick a cover story, research it, and write an article about it.  My time limit was 40 minutes.  This story turned out to have so much background that I knew nothing about, that I mostly just read a lot.  But I'm still posting what I wrote, because it's a pretty interesting story.

In June of 2006, an Israeli corporal named Gilad Shalit was captured by the Palestinians.  The Palestinian army planned a surprise raid early on that Saturday morning.  Gilad's tank was hit by a grenade.  It was the first time an Israeli had been captured by the Palestinians since 1994!

Gilad was born in Israel in 1986, so he was twenty years old when captured (he is Josh's age now, twenty-three).  Here is a rather awkward photo of the kid.

The Palestinian commander who is allegedly responsible for the plan to kidnap Gilad was killed this year during a battle.

Palestine is governed by Hamas, an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement.  The USA and the European Union consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization.  Hamas has only been around since 1987 (the year Katie was born).  Among other plans for domination, Hamas wants to obliterate Israel.  When questioned, representatives say that Hamas is neither anti-semitic or against the Jewish religion.  They simply want to take over.

Gilad Shalit comes into play because Hamas offers to return Gilad to Israel in exchange for one thousand Palestinian prisoners.  For starters, Hamas exchanged a video proving that Gilad is alive for the release of twenty Palestinian women.

sources: 

www.foxnews.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.haaretz.com