I have written about the Palestinian - Israeli conflict on
numerous occasions. I feel deeply
for the Palestinian nation, who deserves the place to live on their own, in
peace and prosperity - like everybody else. This is an undeniable right of every human on this planet.
Created in 1948 Israel is such a place for the Jews, who
until then had no place which they could call their own, dispersed in the world
between other nations, and often suffering the persecution based only on their
ethnic and religious identities.
At this moment I do not want to engage in lengthy
explanations of the Palestinian rights to the same land they share with
Israelis. It’s a subject on it’s
own, and as such has been and will be addressed, some other time.
At this moment I will not talk about the illegal, Israeli
settlements in the West Bank, nor the ‘Blockade’ of Gaza (considered by many in
the World as illegal as well).
At this point I do not want to talk about the heavy handed
response the Israeli Army applies to any aggressive action of the Palestinians,
no matter how trivial, or serious and dangerous, it might be.
We talked about the ‘Cast Lead’ campaign of 2007/2008, and
relating to it the Goldstone Report and the almost general World’s condemnation
of that action, nor I will talk at this point about the current, about to
happen, ground invasion on Gaza Strip…
At this point I want to look at the Palestinian
provocations…
In the last 3 days more than 440 rockets were launched from
the Gaza Strip into the Israel.
More than 440 crude and not very powerful, but able to kill, maim, and
cause the property damage rockets.
In the recent time the Hamas, who is responsible for these
launches, acquired a bit more sophisticated technology, allowing them to send
the rockets deeper in the territory of the Israel. Of course, the Israelis, being subjected to such a threat
for decades, know how to minimize the casualties, and hide in time into the
readily available shelters. They
have on occasion about 15 seconds from sounding of the air alarm to the
explosion. So far, no one was
killed or injured by the rockets.
But, as I understand, it’s not easy to live their lives, constantly
waiting for the air-raid alarm, no matter what one is engaged at the moment, or
how mobile one is (there are handicaps,a and sick people who’s mobility is
sufficiently impaired to create the increased danger).
The Israelis react with the air strikes. So called ‘surgical’ air strikes,
reducing to a pile of gravel houses of the suspected Hamas supporters, or
officials… Many innocent people
gets killed in the process.
This scenario has been known for decades. Palestinians provoke, creating terror
in the Israeli villages and cities, the Army responds with the Iron Fist,
killing the people, damaging the infrastructure… It’s nothing new.
When The Palestinians went ahead and created the
‘reconciliation governments’ which included Hamas and Fatah representatives,
not counting a small opposition (mostly from the USA and the Israel) the World
applauded. I was among those who
had hopes for the future.
Yes, we know - Hamas is considered a terrorist
organization… Yes, we know - they
still haven’t accepted the existence of the Israel and vouch it’s destruction…
But we all expected that the Unity Government was a step in
a direction of changing it. PLO,
once was a fighting force and recognized as terrorists, and then they evolved
and their leader Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace prize…
So, anything can happen, and this is what we all expected
and waiting for. Especially that
the history has proven in a very acute way, that acting aggressively against
the Israel leads to nothing, but loss of life, destruction of the
infrastructure, and ‘derailing’ of the peace talks.
And yet the Hamas attacks happened again. Three Israeli teens kidnapped and
killed, and 440 rockets barraging over the Israel can produce only one outcome
- the Army retaliation.
In turn the initial disapproval of Hamas by the Palestinian
population - after suffering the death of the families and friends caused by
the air-strikes - gets replaced by the anger and wish to retaliate agains the
Israelis… The vicious circle
closes again.
This is what I never could comprehend: how anybody can
consciously do things which immediately cause harm to him and his
surroundings? How can anybody,
being of a sound mind, do such a ‘suicidal’ actions, harming the whole
population. What Hamas is doing at
such times is what is in the States called a ‘SUICIDE BY POLICE’. They put a suicide vest on the whole
Palestinian population in Gaza.
And people, who are subjected to the hardship of living in Gaza, just do
not see it, blinded by the hatred, and the sorrow. The vicious circle closes again.
If the barrage of the rocket stops, the Israelis wouldn’t
have any right, nor moral justification, of the air-rides on Gaza, or any other
destructive action. They would
have to start negotiating, and something might get done in the process. But, the provocations have to stop
first. At this point I become
convinced that the Hamas doesn’t have in their minds, nor on their agenda, the
welfare of the Palestinian nation, but quite the opposite. Just the martyrdom of their own people
- but for what? It doesn’t lead
anywhere.
Stop shooting rockets into the Israel, and start real
negotiation. Provoking the trigger
happy military might of Israel is not a solution and it never will. And for now the UN may discuss the
situation and the un-proportional use of force as long they want. Stop the rockets and the kidnappings -
things will change.
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