The real story in Gaza and Sderot: Who are the victims?

www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000134.html

Ami Isseroff 26.06.2006

[IMRA: Ami Isseroff is "Executive Director of MidEastWeb for coexistence
and a supporter of Palestinian rights"]

The media buzz over who was responsible for the deaths of the Ghalia family
on Gaza beach obscured the real stakes in Gaza. Since 2001, the Popular
Resistance committees and Hamas have lobbed about a thousand rockets of
various types and increasing size into Israel. The most "popular" are the
Qassam rockets of the Hamas, but there are other brands as well. It is
unimaginable that any other country would have permitted such a sustained
attack on its citizens without taking effective action, either military or
diplomatic. The range and size of the Qassam rockets have been growing
steadily. The Qassam 3 has a range of 10 KM and a payload of 10 KG. It is
only a matter of time before communities in southern Israel will be
suffering the equivalent of the London Blitz in miniature. In addition, the
Al Aqsa Brigades have announced that with the help of Allah, they have
developed chemical and biological weapons and will "surprise" Israel.

Almost everyone in the world knows who Muhamed Dura and Huda Ghalia are, but
almost nobody knows the names of the eight to eleven non-Palestinian victims
of Qassam rockets to date. Among them are Dorit Insu, 3, Afik Zahavi, 4,
Yuval Ababeh, 5 , and Ayala-Haya (Ella) Abukasis, 17 of Sderot, and Dana
Gelkowitz of Kibbutz Netiv Ha'asarah. They were totally innocent victims.
They were not settlers or soldiers or any of the other categories that
provide Palestinians for excuses
for the murders that are euphemistically termed "resistance."

The rockets also killed a Bedouin shepherd and his son near Nahal Oz (no
names available) and three workers in Ganei Tal, a Gaza strip settlement.
The were Bi Shudeh, Salah Ayash Imran and Muhammed Mahmoud Jaroun.

The rockets are terror weapons, and the people who operate them are
criminals, every bit as evil as the Nazis who launched V-I and V-II rockets
on London. That is the truth that is not told in any media account of the
Gaza Beach bombings. Nor does it matter if more Palestinian Arabs were
killed. In the end, allied bombings of Germany killed many more Germans than
the number of British killed by the Luftwaffe. Nobody insisted that Dwight
Eisenhower and Winston Churchill were "war criminals."

Yossi Alpher writes:

QUOTE:

"I believe that the Israeli moral equivalency argument is a powerful one:
terrorists deliberately target civilians; we don't, and when we hit
civilians in the course of protecting ourselves, we agonize over it. There
is an element of the "clash of civilizations" in this equation that we may
have to call on in explaining to the world why the IDF has launched a
massive retaliation against Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza."

UNQUOTE
www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr1.php

Why do we need to complicate matters with clashes of civilizations? Did
anyone question the right of the British and Americans to bomb German cities
and invade Germany after the Germans attacked Britain? The United States and
Russia were clearly stronger than Germany. Did anyone say it was "unfair"
that that these "Goliaths" ganged up against the poor Germans? Did anyone
count the German victims?

The rocket attacks are not "resistance" to "occupation," because Gaza is not
occupided. After Israel withdrew from Gaza in the summer of 2005, it was
hoped that that Qassam rocket attacks would stop, but instead they
increased. The international community did nothing but talk. Mahmoud Abbas
did nothing but talk. The rockets kept falling - more and harder and more
frequently.

In addition to the rocket attacks, there were numerous planned terror
attacks, most of which were foiled by Israeli security forces. Most, but not
all. It pleased Mahmoud Abbas and many others to refer to this reign of
terror as a truce. Now that the scales have been tipped by the attack that
killed two Israeli soldiers, Lt. Hanan Barak, St.-Sgt. Pavel Slotsker, and
by the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, Mahmoud Abbas announces that he wants to
"save the truce." What truce? Here is part of the announcement from WAFA,
the PLO News Agency:

QUOTE:

"Abu Rdaina pointed out that the Israeli government has launched a series of
threats. It would inflame the situation through waging a series of air raids
or assassinations, stressing that the Palestinian Leadership completely
refuses such escalation that would lead to a military catastrophe.

The Spokesperson said that the President urged the international Quartet,
specially the US Administration to exert all possible efforts in an attempt
to contain the situation and to prevent the escalation and the deterioration
in the situation.

He asserted that the execution of the Israeli threats would have negative
repercussions and would destroy the efforts to preserve the truce or to
secure the life of the kidnapped Israeli soldier."

UNQUOTE

(Source: http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=6668 )

Even Joseph Goebbels did not have the nerve to plead with the British not to
respond to buzz bombs, in order not to "inflame the situation."

The rockets and other terror are aimed at disrupting and impeding any moves
toward peace, further Israeli withdrawals or normalization. The current
rockets and attacks were aimed at ensuring that there would be no agreement
on the Palestinian Prisoners' document, and they probably have hit their
mark.

Israel has announced it will not deal with the Hamas, Popular Resistance
Committees and Army of Islam, who are demanding release of prisoners. Israel
insists on the return of Gilad Shalit alive. Chances that this will happen
are slim.

Not dealing with the terrorists was a tough decision. It was the only
possible decision, because giving in to such demands will only encourage
further kidnappings and risk more lives.

Even those who want peace most desperately must understand by now that we
cannot have peace in these circumstances.

When you next read or hear of Huda Ghalia, remember also Dorit Insu, Afik
Zahavi, Yuval Ababeh, and Ayala Abukasis, Dana Gelkowitz and the other
victims of the supposedly harmless Qassam rockets. Remember that in Gaza
there is no longer an Israeli occupation, only a Palestinian aggressor.
Palestinian rights do not include murder of children.

Copyright 2006 by Ami Isseroff. Posted at ZioNation at

www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000134.html where you may comment.
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