Remember that macho dictum about how we don't bargain with terrorists? It disappeared long ago. Remember that motto about not releasing prisoners with blood on their hands? That's long gone, too - ever since 1985, when we freed 1,150 terrorists, including some of the biggest butchers, in the Ahmad Jibril prisoner deal. Not to mention the fact that hundreds of them without blood on their hands quickly joined the ranks of the terrorists and suicide bombers as soon as we let them go.

As defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin was opposed to negotiating with murderers. Later, he confessed he couldn't take the pressure of facing the mother of kidnapped Israeli soldier Yosef Grof.

Of all our principles in this country, perhaps the most noble is the principle of not leaving casualties on the battlefield. Soldiers have risked their lives for the sake of this principle. The terrorists, who have discovered our Achilles' heel, never miss an opportunity to kidnap soldiers. They aim for our soft spot. Our old slogan about having no one to talk to doesn't exist anymore. We are prepared to talk, we are ready to give in, but they torture us anyway, the moment one of our boys falls into their hands.

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The terrorists can hold their breath for a long time, and above all, they have a sadistic talent for raising the stakes by keeping mum. Sometimes it can take years for Israel to get a crumb of information about whether one of its soldiers is still alive. Even for this basic information, they set a price.

Over time, our strength has become our weakness. A country that quietly accepts the death and injury of thousands in car accidents goes out of its mind when the fate of one soldier remains unknown. With the receipt of a taped message from Gilad Shalit − the first sign of life from him in a year − the whole country went bonkers. Whoever worded the text pushed all the right buttons, including the insinuation that the government and the army had abandoned him, while many prisoners were released in exchange for a drug dealer.

The electronic and print media went wild with their melodramatic headlines. Shalit's brigade commander announced that he was prepared to do anything and everything to bring Gilad home. Minister Gideon Ezra called on the government to release adult prisoners with blood on their hands in addition to his earlier appeal to free Marwan Barghouti. Minister Ze'ev Boim declared the tape a cruel and cynical act. The poor public wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry over the way the media turned this Hamas ploy into high drama.

What the public didn't know was that negotiations for the release of Shalit had been going on for months, with Egypt as the broker, although immediate results were not expected in light of the tough stance adopted by both sides. The problem was not how many prisoners Israel would release in exchange for Shalit, but who. The talks were cut short by the bloody civil war between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas' decision to release the tape was a gimmick to upstage the Sharm el-Sheik summit. This tape hit us where it hurts the most, and enabled Hamas to blackmail us into releasing more murderers and potential militants.

Even so, the tape is important for several reasons: First, it proved that Shalit is alive. Second, it confirmed that he is being held by Hamas. Third, it showed that his life is not currently in danger. Fourth, it put pressure on the Israeli public to agree to the release of "quality" prisoners. Fifth, it signaled to Abu Mazen that Israel is prepared to hand over more prisoners − much more than the 250 promised by Olmert.

Rafi Eitan, an old Mossad operative, says that the tape's release is evidence that Hamas is uptight. He also believes the Israeli public will support the government if it decides to be more generous in the quantity and "quality" of Hamas prisoners swapped for Shalit. As George Bernard Shaw once said, in a slightly different context: "We've already established what you are, ma'am. Now we're only haggling over the price." For Israel, haggling time has begun.

After the shock of the Jibril deal, an article in Haaretz demanded that all future prisoner swaps be carried out on a one-to-one basis, rather than hundreds of Palestinians in exchange for a single Israeli. This is wishful thinking: It hasn't happened since then, and probably never will. Why? Because we're worth more.