Exactly two years ago, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed the parents of captive soldiers Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire with Hizbullah terrorists until the hostages were returned.
The summer had begun ominously with the June 25 kidnapping of then-IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit during a raid on an IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom Crossing by terrorists from three Hamas factions.
Within three weeks, IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were in enemy hands as well, abducted by Hizbullah terrorists during a multi-pronged, complex cross-border attack in the north that ignited the Second Lebanon War.
Livni assured the parents of the captive soldiers at the time that Israel would not accept any ceasefire arrangement that did not include the release of the soldiers being held by Hizbullah and Hamas.
The senior minister was responding to concerns expressed by the parents who feared that a ceasefire would be imposed on Israel while their sons remained captive.
However, within 24 hours after Goldwasser and Regev were kidnapped, Livni had already begun with her staff to plan an exit strategy from Lebanon, according to a report by the Haaretz Hebrew-language newspaper published October 3, 2006. According to the report, Livni's plan, presented to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on July 16, was based on deployment of an international peacekeeping force and an arms embargo on Hizbullah.
The US warned at the time that it would not support Israel's intention to fight until the soldiers were released. "We also have abductees in Iraq," the report quoted US officials as saying. Ultimately, the ceasefire agreement was implemented on August 11, 2006, with all three captives left in enemy hands.
Two years later, much has changed.
The badly decomposed bodies of Regev and Goldwasser were finally returned to their parents this summer in stark black coffins after months of heart-wrenching trips by the families to officials around the world, begging for their help to free the soldiers.
Right up until the last moment, Hizbullah did not allow anyone to know whether the captives were dead or alive, blocking access to the captives from representatives of the International Red Cross and other agencies, and refusing to offer any sign of life from Day One.
Only on the last day did the terrorist group "leak" the disinformation through its television network that one soldier had died but that there was "no information available" as to the condition of the other.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he is preparing to step down from his post as his Kadima party heads to primary elections to select a new leader. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has announced she intends to replace him in that post, joining three other candidates in the race for the party chairmanship.
But some things haven't changed.
Although the United Nations subsequently expanded its Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), neither UNIFIL nor the Lebanese Army ever managed to successfully enforce the arms embargo on Hizbullah. The terror group's arsenal has now surpassed its pre-war levels and the IDF is closely watching as it begins to build up its forces again on Israel's northern border and the growing influence of Iran in the region.
And IDF Staff-Sgt. Gilad Shalit is still in enemy hands.