(Telegraph-UK) Haim Yellin, Alon Shuster and Yair Farjun - As heads of the three Israeli regional councils which skirt the border with Gaza, the 130 rockets that were fired on our region over the last few days constitute a sad but all too familiar scenario. Imagine, rockets were falling on your family, your home, your community? The toll from this week's attacks from Gaza includes several wounded civilians, injured when an apartment building was hit. Hamas, backed by Iran and the sole authority in Gaza, proudly took responsibility for many of these attacks on our civilian centers. Our small region has been the target of 13,000 rockets fired from Gaza in a decade. More than one million Israelis are in range, living under a cloud of constant fear. In Sderot, 92% of residents have experienced a rocket fall near them, while 49% know someone killed by a rocket. We fully recognize the difficulties facing Palestinians in Gaza. But responsibility for their woes rests solely with Hamas. We remember the heady days of the Oslo peace process in the 1990s when we developed cooperative initiatives with the people of Gaza, living just a few short miles away. We have no quarrel with Gaza's citizens and yearn to join with them once more in peaceful partnership.
2012-06-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive