The first rocket is a warning rocket followed 34 seconds later by the more powerful missile. The Israelis use these warning rockets as evidence of their complying with the Geneva convention which demands that belligerents avoid civilian casualties at all costs. These so-called warning rockets are more powerful than most of the rockets fired from Gaza and the 34 seconds gives nobody any really opportunity to evacuate their homes. It takes far longer than that to at least partially recover from the effect of the blast and reorientate yourself to the fact of what it happening. The old, the sick, the infirm, and children are particularly vulnerable and the evacuation of these members of a family will become the priority for the young and fit. Thus, the time required to evacuate the building by every member of the family will be determined by the slowest and the most infirm. Arab families usually consist of three, and sometimes four, generations living in the same house so imagine if you were living in a house with your children and your ageing parents (and possibly your grandparents) ask yourself how long do you think you could locate everyone and then evacuate them? Then add to that estimation the time required to recover from the impact of the warning rocket in terms of disorientation and trying to find everyone in the damage to staircases and dust clouds caused by the warning rocket. But the Israelis have only given you 34 seconds to do all of this. Does this seem like a genuine effort on the part of the Israelis to ensure the safety of civilians before they unleash their high-explosive missile? It is also well to remember that these warning rockets are not usually used prior to the actual missile arriving. The whole warning rocket procedure is a farce with the warning rocket more often than not used as a range-finder for the main missile but conveniently exploited by Israel to provide a cover for the fact that they are systematically ignoring the Geneva Convention when it comes to the treatment of civilians.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 12:12:12 +0000
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