The King of Pointland

Life and Rockets

After Israel had finalized plans to evacuate its settlements from the Gaza Strip, but before the evacuations were executed, I often wondered what would prevent Palestinian terrorists from continuing to launch rockets at Israeli towns from the Strip? If they did so, how would Israel respond?

If you follow the news, you know that the answers to my questions are "nothing," and "with repeated airstrikes." In the past month, these airstrikes have killed more than twenty Palestinian civilians, including a family of seven at the beach (an Israeli military investigation into the incident continues.) The most recent strike "killed a pregnant woman and her brother Wednesday and wounded at least 15 other civilians, including three children."

The article goes on to say:

The airstrike came a day after an Israeli missile attack on a car in Gaza City killed three children, prompting furious calls for revenge Wednesday as the victims were buried. It also came a week after Israeli military aircraft targeted a minibus being used by Palestinian gunmen to transport a Katyusha rocket, a type commonly fired at Israel. That strike killed nine Palestinian civilians, as well as two gunmen from the radical movement Islamic Jihad.

Mark Regev, of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said in a statement:

"We are saddened by the death of innocent civilians. That is not our intention, but the primary responsibility for the violence lies clearly on the shoulders of those Palestinian extremists who continue to terrorize Israeli cities, shooting their rockets into towns, communities, farms on our side of the border. 150 rockets since the beginning of this month."

If the terrorists were striking from Israeli population centers, would Israel launch rockets into Tel Aviv and Haifa? Of course not. The risk to innocent civilians would be too great. Palestinian lives are not valued so highly.

Would another country react differently in the same situation? I doubt it. What should Israel do? I don't have a good answer. Perhaps a well publicized U.N. Security Council resolution, sponsored by the U.S. Imagine: "Israel refuses to respond to these rocket attacks in any way that risks the lives of innocent Palestinian civilians. We call on the world community to condemn these attacks in the harshest manner." I know, a ludicrous idea. As I said, I don't have a good answer.

On a potentially hopeful note, the Guardian reports, "Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognise Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders." CBS and the AP mention this as well. If Hamas does formally recognize Israel's right to exist, which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has cited as the major roadblock to negotiations on a withdrawal from the West Bank, how will Israel respond?

Posted by cradle at June 22, 2006 05:44 PM