The View from Israel

Dear family and friends,

Dawn and I are both safe, and staying largely in our apartment, as instructed by the Israeli Homefront Command. No rockets have landed in Be'er Sheva since Thursday. Other cities, however, closer to the Gaza Strip, continued to be hit on Saturday, with a total of 35 rockets striking targets in Ashkelon, Ashdod, and other towns.

It seems that the U.S. is the only country supporting Israel's right to defend itself at the moment. For the latest news in English from an Israeli perspective, visit the Jerusalem Post at:

www.jpost.com

Starting back in Summer 2008, Egypt brokered a 6 month truce between Hamas, labeled as a terrorist organization by the U.S., and Israel. Hamas, elected in democratic, internationally monitored elections in 2006, controls the Gaza Strip, while the internationally recognized Palestinian government (Abbas and the Palestianian Authority) controls the West Bank. The West Bank is actually on the eastern border with Israel, as it gets its name from the West Bank of the Jordan River. The Gaza Strip is a small strip of land bordering the Mediterranean and Egypt, and sharing its eastern border with southern Israel. (A World Atlas may come in handy here right about now).

Hamas, it turns out, used this truce to re-arm with longer range rockets supplied by Iran and Syria, and smuggled into the Gaza Strip through underground tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt. Hamas' avowed goal is the destruction of the State of Israel. Before last Tuesday night, Be'er Sheva had never been targeted by rockets from the Gaza Strip before. Israelis had not thought it possible, though in an article around Dec. 21st or 22nd in the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Intelligence Arm warned that Hamas now possessed rockets with the range to strike Be'er Sheva. Hamas also uses Gaza civilians as human shields, and stores rockets and munitions inside of mosques. The people of Gaza are dependent upon humanitarian aid, which Israel has continued to allow in during the crisis. Meanwhile, Hamas spends its money on weapons and training, some of whom go to Iran to train with Iran's elite forces.

Tuesday night, an empty kindergarten in Be'er Sheva was hit, and last Wednesday, an empty high school, on the opposite side of the university from us.

Ask yourself, if towns on the U.S. Southern Gulf Coast found themselves the recipient of rockets launched from Cuba, would the U.S. military stand by and do nothing? Then, I ask, how can European and Arab governments expect that, having endured hundreds of rocket launches on it's southern towns, Israel's military is unilaterally supposed to cease-fire, while rockets are still being launched towards Israel from the Gaza Strip?

The situation, in a nutshell, is not as simple as a cease-fire by Israel. Mechanisms need to be put in place to prevent the re-armament and re-supply of Hamas by Iran and Syria, thus (hopefully) bringing a sustainable peace to the region. Israel has called for international observers to be placed in the Gaza Strip following cessation of hostilities to ensure that future truces aren't
merely opportunities for Hamas to re-arm. The U.N. Security Council Resolution condemning the Israeli air and ground assault was blocked by the U.S., as it provided no such assurances. Israel has vowed to continue the offensive until no rockets are being launched at Israel.