Israel’s retaliation: it’s about time
In the summer of 2007, I did something most of my friends deemed “insane”: I consciously chose to visit Sderot, an Israeli town where terrorist-launched rockets fall virtually every day. What I saw on that maybe-crazy trip convinces me that Israel’s current military operations in Gaza are fully justified.
It’s literally impossible to live normally in Sderot, a fact I discovered when my friend Omer took me around one July day. Omer lives there, if you can call it living. His school looks like a prison: students study under a steel roof, the tiny windows shielded with iron bars and the streets surrounding the school filled with potholes–a result not of sloppy infrastructure, but of rockets that destroyed the asphalt. Those potholes are a constant reminder of why the school has to be fortified like some sort of military compound.
Every time he hears the siren, Omer has 15 seconds to take cover somewhere or risk getting blown up. He can’t play soccer because if he’s on one side of the field and the bomb shelter is on the other side, he might not make it there in time. He can’t go to parties with loud music—you have to be able to hear the sirens—and he keeps his showers short. It’s hard to hear an alert, grab a towel and run to a bomb shelter in 15 seconds.
The citizens of Sderot have been living in this constant state of uncertainty–where’s the nearest bomb shelter? When’s the next rocket coming? Where is it going to fall? You don’t know until it lands–since 2005.
That year, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in an effort to facilitate a two-state solution, and the Palestinians held democratic elections for new leadership soon after. Hamas, an organization recognized as a terrorist group by the State Department and the European Union, won by a landslide, and took complete control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 through a coup that relegated more moderate factions to the West Bank.
Hamas has fired over 6,300 rockets and mortars into Israel. Over 600 have fallen in the last six weeks alone, in blatant violation of last June’s Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. The agreement stipulated that Israel would not go into the Gaza Strip if Hamas would stop firing missiles into Israel.
Israel essentially held up its side of the bargain. But not only did Hamas fail to stop launching rockets (granted, they initially reduced the number of rockets fired, but it’s not a cease-fire if you’re still firing), they also took advantage of the period of calm to double their stockpile of weapons and to cultivate longer-range missile capabilities. It’s estimated that about 800,000 Israelis are now in range of Hamas’s rockets. And as Hamas demonstrated during the so-called “cease-fire,” they’re more than willing to use them.
So when Israel began launching air strikes in Gaza on Dec. 27, my first reaction was to wonder what took Israel so long. If terrorists based in Mexico fired rockets into Texas—once, just once—you know that America would respond immediately, with considerable force. And no one would question that, because of course you can’t have missiles raining on towns in Texas. Of course it would be unacceptable for terrorists to target Texan civilians every single day. But Israel has held her fire – until now.
As I write this, the New York Times’ headline reads, “Gaza Toll Hits 375 in Third Day of Israel Strikes.” Sounds awful, and it is sickening–truly horrific–whenever innocent blood is shed. But the vast majority of blood being shed now is far from innocent. Unlike Hamas, which only targets Israeli civilians, Israel is focusing on Hamas strongholds. Think the home of the Hamas rocket chief, not a Beersheba kindergarten. Or the weapons-smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, not the dining hall of the Sha’ar Hanegev kibbutz. Or a Hamas police station, not a bus stop in Ashdod.
Despite Hamas’s intentional targeting of Israeli civilians, Israel is still ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza. More than 60 truckloads of humanitarian supplies were sent to Gaza on Dec. 28 and 29 alone. There is clearly no moral equivalency between the Israeli government and the leaders of Hamas.
Both Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live decent, normal lives. Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians has been far from perfect, but the biggest impediment to peace right now is unequivocally Hamas.
Until the rockets stop falling, until Omer can worry about girls instead of grenades, and until Hamas rejects terror, lasting peace for both Israelis and residents of the Gaza strip will be impossible.
| Print
This wasn't the only battle fought while you were on vacation. Or you can return home.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Hopefully more people will “get it.”
Hamas is clearly serving Iran’s interests and using the Palestinians as mere cannon fodder. We wished it wouldn’t come to this. Sometimes I think we Israelis care more about the innocent Palestinians than Hamas (and Hizbullah and Syria and Iran etc.)do.
Peace.
Steve Daitch
Tel Aviv
Steve Daitch
January 5, 2009 at 8:17 am
If two countries half-way across the globe want to blow each other to pieces, I’m fine with that. I don’t exactly understand, however, why the US must send billions to assist in the murder.
Dan K
January 5, 2009 at 11:57 am
This article is well-written and persuasive. Unfortunately, most of it is unsourced, misinformed and extremely narrow-minded. As an NU student currently in Israel, it’s frustrating that the author is not better informed about the situation.
This article is unsourced in the most critical of places. For example, the fact that the phrase “Israel essentially held up its side of the bargain” is just thrown into the article without sourcing is ridiculous.
Significantly more harmful, the article is misinformed. Besides a litany of minor errors (since when is a 44%-42% victory a “landslide”?), many major points are flat out wrong.
Take, for example, that claim that Israel “held up its side” of the June truce. In reality, Israel never lifting their blockade at all, continuing to limit the amount of food, fuel and medicine being let into the country. Furthermore, the Israeli government repeated entered the territory to conduct military operations, killing scores of Palestinians.
The assertation that “the vast majority of blood being shed now is far from innocent”? The UN says that more than 25 percent of Gazan casualties are civilians.
Finally, the article is extremely narrow-minded in that it literally only considers the Israeli side. Yes, life in Sderot is terrible. No human should be subject to that. But how about life in Gaza? Or in the West Bank? Or in Palestinian cities throughout Israel? How many of these villages did you visit during your trip? I visited several, and let me tell you: after having their land taken from them by foreigners, these human beings have been subject to occupation and oppression for decades.
And now, after rockets by a few terrorists killed one Israeli in seven years, the human beings in Gaza are subject to terror mcuh worse than those in Sderot. Thousands have been wounded, and they have no 15 second warning.
By the way, to compare Hamas rockets to Mexico attacking Texas is unbelieveably shallow. It ignores 60 years of conflict and occupation.
If those in Sderot are scared of rockets, maybe they should leave and go someplace safer. I know, I know; it’s incredibly unfair to expect them to just leave their homes. But what did Israel do to the Palestinians?
So peace is not possible until Hamas rejects terror. Agreed. But what about Israel?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/middleeast/14mideast.html?pagewanted=print
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010200706_pf.html
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14046&size=A
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/05/mideast/mideast.php
http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/israel-violates-gaza-ceasefire-as-welcome-to-elected-us-president-obama-20081105.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-bombing-ashkelon-is-the-most-tragic-irony-1216228.html
Brian Rosenthal
January 5, 2009 at 3:27 pm
THANK YOU for this article. I’m so sick of hearing people talk about Israel as if it’s committing “genocide”. And thank you for visiting Sderot before writing about the situation there. So many of my friends have never even set foot into any Middle Eastern country, and yet spout off about the “power-hungry Israelis” and the “poor, starving Palestinians” as if they’ve seen it all.
Though, unfortunately, many Palestinians really ARE poor and starving, and it seems that we’ve still got a LONG ways to go before the world realizes that the blame for this can be placed squarely on Hamas, not Israel.
But Israel definitely won’t be willing to try a cease fire or peace treaty again, because they know Hamas will break it, and retaliation will cause the whole world to label Israel as the devil. Maybe it’s time for a more powerful body to step in.
HMMM, too bad the UN is useless, huh?
Miriam Mogilevsky
January 6, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Really great article. Thank you.
Rebecca
January 6, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I think the loss of innocent lives is extremely unfortunate. I think both sides deserve blame for that, but I have tried to put myself in the position of someone on either side. I try to imagine being forced out of your own land and forced to live as a refugee in your own country in what has become the most densely populated area in the world. I also try imagining living in fear of the Hamas terrorist bombs exploding at any given time or place, not knowing if you’ll see tomorrow.
I have to admit though, that while I think what Hamas is doing is wrong by any standards, what else can you expect an oppressed people to do? Who can people turn to when they have no water, no food, no medical supplies? A radical terrorist group that is “being proactive” seems better then doing nothing. It’s so sad, but maybe if the Israelis stopped cutting supplies to Gaza, Hamas would no longer be needed by the people.
I also have a problem with “targeting terrorists.” The concept is absurd. Terrorists have no home base, no borders, no defining characteristics. It brings me to tears when I see images of fathers burying their small children wrapped in Palestinian flags. I don’t think those children have anything to do with terrorism and it’s this kind of treatment that leads people to radicalism in the first place.
Just my two cents.
Anna
January 6, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Katharine, while I sympathize with the loss of Israeli civilian lives, have you visited any cities in Palestine to see what’s going on there? At least Omer has the luxury of taking showers, going to parties, and attending classes. What justifies Israel targeting hospitals, mosques, and schools? Only a terrorist regime can support these actions. As of now, 660 have been murdered by Israel in Gaza (including more than 215 children & 89 women).
MK
January 6, 2009 at 10:12 pm
“What justifies Israel targeting hospitals, mosques, and schools?”
How about the fact that Hamas terrorists hide and store weapons in those places, effectively using civilians as shields and their suffering as propaganda.
David
January 6, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Are you telling me that the pretense of hidden weapons justifies killing more than 215 children??? And which weapons are you referring to? The rocks that Palestinian children throw at Israeli tanks? Or the primitive rockets which do about as much damage as fire crackers? A total of 18 Israelis have died from rocket fire since 2001. Compare that to the Palestinian death toll in just this past week!!!
I urge you to read this BBC article and stop believing the Israeli propaganda you see on TV:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7809371.stm
MK
January 6, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Are you telling me that the pretense of hidden weapons justifies killing 215 children?? And which weapons are you referring to? The rocks that Palestinian children throw at Israeli tanks? Or the primitive rockets that do about as much damage as firecrackers. Since 2001, only 18 Israelis have died from rocket fire. Compare that to the Palestinian death toll in just this past week.
I urge you to read this BBC article before you believe the Israeli propaganda you see on TV:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7809371.stm
Molly
January 6, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Any discussion of Israel’s offensive on Gaza that fails to take into account the impact on Palestinian lives of more than half a decade of occupation and oppression is historically disingenuous. In spite of the ceasefire, and before Hamas started firing rockets, the Israeli blockage of Gaza’s borders was causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in an already severely impoverished Gaza. In early March 2008 the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an official report on the situation in Gaza that stated that due to Israeli blockages and fuel cuts more than 1.1 million people, about 80% of Gaza’s residents, had become dependent on food aid, as opposed to 63% in 2006. Unemployment was close to 40% and almost 70% of the 110,000 workers employed in the private sector had lost their jobs. Moreover, the report stated that: “[The current situation in the Gaza Strip]is worse now than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967. It is man-made, completely avoidable and, with the necessary political will, can also be reversed.”
Only a fraction of the inhabitants of Gaza are members of Hamas and only a fraction of Hamas is constituted by its military wing. Israel is willingly and indiscriminately targeting civilians in a brutal form of collective punishment that is not only in blatant contravention of international law (the UN has described the attacks as “war crimes”) but will also jeopardize the possibility of peace for years to come. There is no chance of a durable peace until Israel withdraws to its 1967 borders, dismantles all settlements and stops building new ones, grants refugees the right to return and treats them like equal citizens, and stops the international blockage of Gaza.
Today 40 more innocent Palestinians were killed as Israeli bombs crashed into a school. All who care for justice and a peaceful future for both Israelis and Palestinians should raise their voice in condemnation of these attacks.
Esther
January 7, 2009 at 12:05 am
This article is emotionally fueled and factually vapid. To ignore WHY Palestinians turn to terrorism in the first place – the living conditions which are barely that – is irresponsible at best. Also, to try and place the blame on any one group is pure fantasy. In a conflict that has continued for decades, you simply cannot say that Israel is without blame. Israel’s foreign policy is out of control, with no respect for the rules of proportional response (take the 2006 invasion of Lebanon). Were Israel not such a close ally to the United States, criticism of their actions would be rampant, and most certainly would not be considered controversial. Israel benefits from Western alliances that allow it to act with virtually no checks, and it is the Palestinians – yes, the imprisoned, impoverished, and oppressed- who are paying the price.
kthxlawl
January 7, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I’m sorry but I have to disagree with most of you and agree with kthxlawl there. As a Christian Palestinian who has lived in Jerusalem, I know first hand of the injustices and the oppression that the Israeli government has dealt to the religious minority in Palestine/Israel. I am strongly opposed to Hamas, but i am without a doubt more opposed to the Israeli government and military. If it weren’t for the heavy lobbying as well as the tight knit relations that Israel has with the United States, more people in this nation would be horrified. For me personally, I find no justice in a government that because of suicide bombing which kills 8 people, kills over 600 citizens, most of them not affiliated with Hamas. I know one of several people that have died simply because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. For that, there is no excuse.
Sidney
January 9, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Calling for a ceasefire while making millions off of weapons of destruction. Talk about hypocrisy of the U.S. government. We’ve become pawns of these weapons manufacturing companies. Not to mention that our own economy is in shambles!! Shame on all corrupt politicians that have sold their souls to greed. They will be held accountable for the death of these innocent civilians, if not in this life then in the next.
Disgusted
January 10, 2009 at 1:58 am
@Anna – “A radical terrorist group that is “being proactive” seems better then doing nothing.”
Did you really just say that? Did you really? Please tell me I misread/miscopied.
That’s how I know something’s really going wrong with the world. People are defending terrorism. That’s truly horrible.
Miriam Mogilevsky
January 11, 2009 at 12:15 pm
“People are defending terrorism.”
I will start by defining terrorism:
The calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or…
Reading this reminds me more of the Israeli government than Hamas. Leaving personal thoughts aside, I would like to remind you of the fact that Israel killed more civilians than Hamas did. Israel is a terrorist government and it is systematically killing civilians in Gaza. And with your comments that smells of nasty brainwashing, you are the one supporting terrorism. “That’s truly horrible.”
A note to NorthByNorthwestern: It is a pity that this article being so one-sided and biased is published here, especially at this time. Shame on you NbN.
To Miriam the brainwashed
January 11, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Miriam i’m assuming you are Jewish and are just defending your “jewish state”. But, as a Jew myself, I have to agree that maybe we are a tad bit…actually very rash and abusive of our strength over the Palestinians
colleen
January 13, 2009 at 3:56 pm
So suicide bombing isn’t terrorism, but defending your own country is? Whoops! Looks like I’ve had it completely backwards all this time.
Miriam
January 14, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Sorry but it seems like you do have it backward. Which group is more terrifying, one that kills ten Israeli soldiers or one that massacres over a thousand people.
Miriam Miriam Miriam
January 15, 2009 at 5:41 pm
How about one that intentially causes civilian casualties to use as propaganda for its cause. That to me is the most terrifying of all.
http://www.hamasterrorism.com/
David
January 17, 2009 at 3:01 pm
So very informed. I cannot believe such a biased and misinformed article can be published on such an accredited campus media source. Katharine, you have a very narrow mind and are unable to observe perspectives from both sides. Remember, this is a conflict, aka. TWO SIDES. I just hope that the world is not full of people like you who are disgustingly biased, to the point that you can warrant murder and human rights abuses. THAT is the reason why we can never establish peace in the Middle East and for that I am truly saddened by the society we live in.
Hiro Kawashima
January 23, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Well, this is an editorial. She can write whichever opinion she believes in. Plenty of people write only the Palestinian side; a single Google search will quickly reveal this. If this were a piece of reporting dedicated to pure facts and not opinions, then this approach would be wrong.
Rachelle
January 25, 2009 at 2:51 pm