[Ha'aretz] Yoel Marcus - On April 16, 2001, Palestinians in Gaza fired the first Kassam rocket at Sderot. Experts called it "primitive." Two months later, this primitive rocket killed two inhabitants of Sderot, one a child. For more than five years now, this primitive rocket has been improving, both in power and range. They are nearing strategic sites on the outskirts of Ashkelon. The 20-second warning seems like a joke; the inhabitants run across the street as though racing against the second hand. One manages to find shelter, another is stricken with disaster and a leg is amputated. After the IDF bombardment of Beit Hanoun, in which 19 Palestinians were killed by mistake, a huge majority at the UN sees Israel as the cruel aggressor. Its apology was not accepted. But have you ever heard Hamas apologizing for killing women and children? Have they ever asked forgiveness for the firing on Sderot? They have been firing on a civilian locale for more than six years now, and it is Israel that is defined as the aggressor. Israel is the only country in the world in which one of its cities is a target for rockets every day. One wonders how France would react if Dijon and Rouen were under bombardment. No country would put up with the situation in which one of its cities is a permanent shooting range, and where crossing a street or going to the grocery store has become death poker. The Palestinians do not want to recognize Israel or come to terms with its existence. Instead of building up and developing the territory that Israel evacuated, like the Egyptians did in Sinai, they have turned Gush Katif into a base for firing daily at the inhabitants of the Negev, firing that is aimed at civilians, women and children. Israel is finding itself both attacked and condemned. The situation cannot continue like this. If Hamas continues to torpedo all discussions by not recognizing Israel and employing terror against its citizens, there will be no choice but to revert to the biblical method of an eye for an eye.
2006-11-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive