Under Attack
Friday, 09 January 2009
On Thursday evening, Tiran and I decided to take the girls to my brother in Jerusalem for a couple of nights. As we left the house and got to the traffic lights, the sirens went off. As we had explained to the girls before we left the house, and according to the instructions from the army to the civilian population, we immediately jumped out of the car and lay down on the road, with Tiran and I covering the girls. All around us, other people did the same with some making a run for the nearest building (not an option with the girls by the time we got them out the car). Thank goodness, though we heard the missile explode, it was nowhere near us, and everyone picked themselves up, got back into cars, waited for the traffic lights to change, and continued on their merry way.
That was the first time that I saw Ya'ara frightened. Somehow, being out in the open gave her the feeling of being less protected and even though we were right there, it was a difficult moment for her.
We returned to Be'er-sheva before it got dark last night to the news that the ground assault had started. It has been quiet in Be'er-sheva presumably because it is more difficult for the Hamas to fire off their rockets with the soldiers on the ground. It has not stopped them firing at towns nearer the Gaza strip because they can get those rockets off and disappear faster, however, the amount of rockets has decreased in the last 12 hours.
Be'er-sheva, like most of the south of Israel within 40 kms from Gaza, is under Home Front Command control. They determine how and what we are allowed to do at present. Hence, Tiran is working normally at the Medical Library, I should be working, though not teaching, but I am at home with the girls because all the schools and kindergardens are closed.
It is difficult to know what to feel about what is going on. On the one hand, I am grateful that there are less rockets flying around, on the other hand, as the number of casualties rises on both sides (but particularly on the Palestinian side) there is much pause for thought. I have no doubts about the legitimacy of the military action, I am just worried about its scale and what might be achieved. To those who talk about Israel's disproportionate response, my reply would be that if Israel fired one rocket for every rocket fired by Hamas (and the other minor organisations) indiscriminately at civilian populations, the civilian casualties among the Palestians would be much higher. However, I am concerned that the ways to reach a ceasefire and end this conflict have not been considered properly, nor have the lessons from Lebanon (two years ago) and Iraq been learned. This will not be resolved by force and at some stage, hopefully sooner rather than later, we will have to sit down and talk to the other side. It is difficult to talk to those who want to destroy you and who do not recognise your right to exist, but that does not mean that attempts have to be made to talk to these people or to others who might arise out of the ashes of the destruction taking place in Gaza.
I am certain that most Gazans want to live in peace knowing that they can get up in the morning, go to work, make a living, provide for their children, and have the freedom to travel and move about freely (being able to cross borders if they want to). I do not think that Israel has made enough effort to speak to this enormous, yet silent, element of the Palestinian population, and the ongoing violence and destruction might drive more and more of them into the fundamentalist camp.Yes, most of them voted for Hamas in the elections, but for most, it was a vote against Fatah corruption, not necessarily for Hamas' ideology vis-a-vis Israel.
I do not know how this will be resolved and what the next days and weeks hold for us all. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts with you as well as letting you know what is going on.
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