English Ass. 1

Gilad Shalit freed in Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap

(I couldn't find the person who wrote it. So if you go to the link and find it, please tell me. Thank you.)


Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, 25, was returned from captivity after five years. He said he missed his family, who also missed him, and they were very happy to be back together. He was greeted by a cheering crowd and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was seized  by Hamas militants that sneaked through a tunnel to Israel in 2006.
There was an exchange between this one soldier and more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners, which the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a hard time deciding on. What a costly deal. However, he said Israel won't stop fighting terrorism.
So far, 477 Palestinians have arrived Gaza, and 550 more are to be released next month. Both countries celebrate as their people return from captivity.


The connection of this article with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is that it is quite similar in the sense that because of one man, many have been freed. Though the article's about two opposing sides, the book and the article both still portrays one man worth the freedom of many. In the book, due to McMurphy, other patients were made able to escape the asylum.
Also, there is a conflict between Israel and Palestine just like between the ward and the patients. Many crazy things happen.
Last thing is that the article writes as if the Israeli soldier is the only important character in the whole story. The Palestinian prisoners are not given a darn about and is just told plainly in the end how they were released. The focus is Gilad Shalit. As such, the book only focuses on a few characters - McMurphy, Chief Bromden, and the Big Nurse. Others are extras. Others are there just to get the story to be a story. I mean, all are human beings. We all hold the same value and are the very same species. At least we were supposed to. However, in today's world, only a very few number are highlighted. Only one is important. We only get to see Chief Bromden's past. McMurphy's Christ-like interpretation makes him worth the freedom of whole bunch of mental patients; just because of one Israeli soldier, over 1000 Palestinians were released. Or more specifically, just for one Israeli soldier, 1000 Palestinians were given away. We also only see the details about  Gilad Shalit in the article. We don't see a single description of a Palestinian opinion. Well, of course it's British news, who I think are probably friendlier to Israel, and Palestine is dangerous but I am trying to relate the darn article to the book.




Vocabs
1.Throng
a. "Many thousands thronged the streets of Gaza to greet the former prisoners."
b.Throng: a multitude of people crowded or assembled together;crowd, to crowd or press upon; jostle, to fill by crowding or pressing into: They thronged the smallroom.
Origin: c.1300, probably shortened from O.E. geþrang "crowd, tumult" (related to verb þringan "to push, crowd, press"), from P.Gmc. *thrangan (cf. O.N. þröng, Du. drang, Ger. Drang "crowd, throng"). The verb, in the sense of "go in a crowd," is first recorded 1534.
c. The hungry students busily thronged around the snack container to grab for themselves each a disgusting, spongy, tasteless carrot bread.


2. Shrapnel
a. "He said Sgt Shalit was suffering from some minor injuries including untreated shrapnel wounds and complications because of a lack of sunlight in the place where he was held."
b. Shrapnel: a hollow projectile containing bullets or the like and a bursting charge, designed to explode before reaching the target, and to set free a shower of missiles, shell fragments.
Origin: 1806, from Gen. Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), who invented a type of exploding, fragmenting shell when he was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Peninsular War. The invention consisted of a hollow cannon ball, filled with shot, which burst in mid-air; his name for it was spherical case ammunition.
c. Woodstock students are not related to Shrapnel in any ways. 
3. Israel (I couldn't find any other vocabs)
a. "He was freed after Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas agreed a deal under which more than 1,000 Palestinians would also be released."
b. a republic in SW Asia, on the Mediterranean: formed as a Jewish state May 1948. 5,534,672; 7984 sq. mi. (20,679 sq. km). Capital:Jerusalem, a group considered by its members or by others as God's chosen people.
Origin: O.E., "the Jewish people," from L. Israel, from Gk., from Heb. yisra'el "he that striveth with God" (Gen. xxxii.28), symbolic proper name conferred on Jacob and extended to his descendants, from sara "he fought, contended" + El "God." As an independent Jewish state in the country formerly called Palestine, it is attested from 1948. Citizens of it are called Israelis; the ancient people are Israelites (1382).
c. Israel is hated by all the countries surrounding it, and my friend who now left Woodstock is from Saudi Arabia and she hated Israel.