Who is a hostage? Families of the 120 Israelis who remain captive in Gaza voiced a clear and moving answer at the beginning of this month, when they launched a fresh campaign for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal under the banner: “We are all hostages”. To whom exactly this collective “we” extends is open to interpretation – but the families have not been alone in insisting on some kind of expansion of the use and application of the term hostage over the past eight and a half months. Following the release of 105 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners back in November, several writers immediately drew attention to the discrepancy in status ascribed to Israelis abducted by Hamas on 7 October, and to Palestinians held in Israeli prisons without trial, charge, or conviction…..more
