Nothing is simple in the Middle East, particularly when it comes to Arab/Jewish clashes. But one thing seems clear — when Palestinians bomb Israel from Gaza, it is an act of war. And it should be treated as such.
Almost two years ago, in August 2005, Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza and four West Bank settlements. At great cost — financial and emotional — Israel pitted soldier against settler to align with the government decision to disengage.
It was an act of exasperation, as I see it. The message to the Palestinians was: Take the land. Use it to make something good. And give us some peace and quiet.
For six years, residents of Sderot, a small city just outside the border with the Gaza Strip, has suffered from cross border missile attacks. The city has had to fortify kindergartens and schools, which close altogether when the attacks’ frequency increases.
By moving out almost 9,000 settlers and removing Israeli soldiers from the territory, Israel said: Enough.
Before the settlers left, former World Bank head James Wolfensohn secured $14 million to buy high tech hothouses from Gush Katif farmers and hopefully save the jobs of thousands of Palestinian farm workers.
But before one seed could be planted, one measure of hope could be watered, Palestinian looters destroyed most of the hothouses. Anger and pride beat construction. Almost two years later, Gaza is still a wasteland.
Now, the tiny strip of land has become a bloody battlefield for the factional fighting of Fatah and Hamas, who have agreed to share power in a unity government but haven’t gotten much beyond nice words and theory.
In the filthy and overpopulated land of Gaza, they are murdering one another. Their conflicts over the past weeks have left scores dead.
So, what do they do? Bomb Israel; what else? The strategy seems to be that if provoked by the suffering of its citizens in the south, Israel will respond by attacking Gaza and unifying Palestinian brothers against their enemy cousin Israel, which of course is correct.
However critical one is of Israel, the undeniable truth is that Israelis value life. And, of course, when pounded by Kassam rockets, they respond. How long can Israel sit quietly as rockets fall in sovereign territory and Israeli citizens huddle in shelters?
Predictably, the news media is muddling the issues by covering the conflict with no historical perspective. The infuriating story covered relentlessly these last weeks in the news is that Israel is entering the battlefield of factional Palestinian warring.
AP’s Ibrahim Barzak captured the skewed reporting perfectly on Friday, May 18: “Israeli planes pounded Hamas targets early Friday … as Israel stepped deeper into fighting between the Islamic militants and rival Fatah fighters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”
The actual narrative, however, is different. And I keep waiting for a loud and cogent voice to muffle out all the biased pundits and, for once, let Israel stand on the high ground.
Here’s the narrative that the world needs to hear: There is now a border between Israel and Gaza. Attacking Israeli citizens in their homes and schools is an act of war.
Israel is justified in pounding those who dare endanger its citizens, without regard to Palestinian civil unrest. What would Texans do if Mexican rebels sent a barrage of missiles across that border?
Israel’s government and its citizens can argue about how to respond.
Let the residents of Sderot continue to call for a re-invasion of Gaza, in the hopes of creating a buffer presence. Let doves argue for negotiations and for a reasoned long-term strategy.
But in the court of the international press, it’s our job to make clear the reasons for Israel’s current air strikes and targeted assassinations in the Gaza strip. With regret, with pain, Israel is fighting back in justified self-defense.
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