Tuesday November 20, 2012
A call for diplomacy
Last week, Israel launched a new offensive against militants in Gaza, firing missiles on at least 20 targets and killing Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari.
Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007 when Israel withdrew from the area, has claimed responsibility for a series of rocket strikes over the past several months. It also last week said it was responsible for detonating a tunnel packed with explosives along the Gaza border with Israel while Israeli soldiers were working nearby.
While we’re not disputing that Israel should exercise its right to defend itself from attack, this most recent assault on Hamas seems like overkill, and comes as a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to ratchet up the rhetoric on Iran and that country’s perceived nuclear aspirations.
It’s a shame, really, that the last three years (or so) of what the New York Times in an editorial last week described as "an informal cease-fire" following the winter war in 2008-09, a more permanent and long-lasting peace agreement for both sides could not be reached through diplomatic means.
Instead, this recent ramping up of attacks will accomplish two things: It will distract from the ongoing Iran saga, as Western leaders continue to attempt to diffuse through politics and sanctions. It will also threaten the tenuous thread of "peace" which has prevented the entire region from spiraling into widespread conflict.
Think it won’t have any effect on us at home?
Not only is does the real threat of a Middle East conflict exploding (no pun intended) into a full-scale World War mean our sons and daughters would be once again shipped off to a foreign land; unlike 1914 and ‘45 it is all but certain nuclear arms will play heavily in the fight.
Or, if you prefer the less extreme: On Monday oil rose toward $111 a barrel as investors feared other countries would be pulled into the conflict between Hamas and Israel, while energy exports from the region were disrupted.
As always in these types of situations, it would be best for everyone involved if this issue could be solved through diplomacy and cooler-heads prevailing.
To the Editor:
With regard to the escalating crisis in the Middle East, I agree with both the need for diplomacy, as well as Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorist attacks, as stated in your November 20, 2012 editorial.
However, the Reformer’s depiction of Israel’s response as “overkill” without the full context of the intensified rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians by Hamas, is misleading.
Hamas has been proved to hide its rocket launchers amongst its civilian population as it fires rockets aimed at civilians into Israel. The brunt of the damage has been in Israel's south, however, Iranian-made Fajr-5 rockets are now reaching Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, directly threatening as many as 3 million Israelis – 45% of Israel's population. These include Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians. Since the launch of Israel's current military operation, over 800 rockets have been fired from Gaza. On November 15, a rocket fell on an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, killing three. Over 300 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, Israel's mobile defense system. Since 2001, well over 14,000 rockets and mortar shells have fallen in southern Israel.
Israel has shown tremendous restraint in the face of the unceasing rocket and mortar fire launched from Gaza. This operation is directly targeting the leadership responsible for these attacks, as well as the warehouses and facilities housing their weapons. No country in the world would stand by and tolerate such attacks on more than a million civilians. In light of the unceasing attacks, Israel had no choice but to act against Hamas and eliminate its operational capabilities.
It is important to remember that Israel fully redeployed from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, uprooting Israeli settlers and removing military installations, in the hope that the Palestinians would govern Gaza responsibly and peacefully. Instead, the Hamas leadership has turned Gaza into an armed camp, creating and maintaining the conditions for a humanitarian crisis, and forcing the isolation of the Gazan population. Israeli is ensuring that the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza continues.
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