A few thoughts: The Israeli government and military deserve thanks. Sirens are scary. Hearing explosions after them is much scarier. I experienced that fear last night in my kitchen for the first time in my life, and sat frozen, unable to move for minutes afterwards. Yet knowing that immense resources were invested to ensure my safety is reassuring. I am protected by one of the most sophisticated missile defense systems in the world, an early-warning siren, a network of rocket-proof bomb shelters a minute walk from my home, a military with unmatched firepower, and the rockets shot towards this city are unsophisticated. I know that I will be safe. Nonetheless, there is fear. How utterly terrifying must it be for those Israelis in the South, living under the constant sound of sirens and explosions, where rockets actually fall and people are actually killed? This is not a normal situation. It cannot continue. Israels government has a responsibility to make sure that all its citizens - even the poor, forgotten ones in the periphery - can live in security, and live without fear. I know that I will be safe, and I know that there are those who will not. Those who do not receive enough concrete to build their homes, let alone missile-proof shelters to seek refuge in. Those who do not receive enough electricity to operate their hospitals and sewage treatment facilities, let alone blast warning sirens. Those whose only defense against missiles is running to the roof of their home in the hope that the man in the plane or behind the drone will not pull the trigger and destroy their home and kill their loved ones. And the missile comes anyway. Israel has a responsibility to ensure long-term security and safety for its people. Containment, bombing Gaza every couple of years, going from ceasefire to ceasefire has not made the residents of Netivot and Sderot any safer. This strategy has failed to bring security. What it has brought is death, destruction, despair and growing hatred on the Gazan side of the security fence. I know what I dont want to happen. I dont want any more sirens, I dont want any more rockets, I dont want my friends in the army to be ordered to enter Gaza, I dont want more families killed. Yet in the immediate short term, its hard to imagine anything else. I want Israel to empower moderate Palestinian leadership, to legitimize their vision, and not create a vacuum where violence is the only tactic that generates any Israeli response. But these are hopes for long-term engagement, unfortunately, the forecast predicts only more rockets, missiles, sirens and killing.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:17:09 +0000
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