The Company They Keep
"What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?"
"It's not important who wins or loses. What's important is to end this bloodshed."
"We prefer to fight with wisdom and politics."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
"It is unacceptable for citizens on both sides to permanently live in fear of the next aerial attack."
"My paramount concern is the safety and well-being of all civilians, no matter where they are."
"[There is a] risk of all-out escalation in Israel and Gaza, with the threat of a ground offensive still palpable."
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon
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| Israelis sit and pray together inside a street shelter, in anticipation of the Code Red siren alerting of incoming rockets, in the Southern Israeli town of Nitzan, on the fourth day of Operation Protective Edge, July 11, 2014 (photo credit: Hadas Parush/Flash90) |
"Where is this leading, is it leading to a ground force incursion? I can't confirm that. I can confirm we are making all the necessary preparations to be ready for that."
Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, IDF spokesman
Since Tuesday roughly 450 rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel. Of that number Israel's protective Iron Dome system has intercepted 70. The Israeli airstrikes number in excess of 860 sites. Palestinians in Gaza have died in unfortunate numbers approaching 100. The UN Security Council heard from Israel's ambassador that Hamas is "intentionally and indiscriminately" threatening 3.5-million Israelis. They're just not yet having much luck in their intentions.
"No nation, no people and no government could tolerate this", concluded Ambassador Ron Prosor. A statement no one could find fault with. While the UN envoy of the PA, Riyad Mansour addressed the issue of Palestinians facing "another barrage of death, destruction, trauma and terror." That too is beyond dispute. Nothing of the kind would be occurring, needless to say, without the deadly provocation of Hamas endangering the lives of Israelis.
For the past several years Hamas has been busy smuggling rockets into Gaza and stockpiling them for the next occasion when they would be needed. It has obviously deemed that occasion to have arrived. They're committed enough to refuse to halt the barrage. Among the rockets being dispatched are Syrian-built, Iranian-supplied M302 rockets, paid courtesy of Qatar; more accurate, longer-range, potentially more deadly.
"Enough already. My grandson is the second generation already living through these rockets. When we see smoke from the rockets I try to tell him, 'Look at the clouds up there', but he knows it's not clouds. At age two, he already knows what's going on."The rockets aimed at Sderot are too close for the Iron Dome system to be used to intercept them. The lower-middle-class town of 24,000 has experienced the devastating terror of being targeted by rockets from Gaza for the last thirteen years. Now the rockets are hitting as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; now, Mrs. Mizrachi states, people in Tel Aviv know what it feels like. In Tel Aviv, because of the distance, the Iron Dome works.
Simone Mizrachi, Sderot, Israel
"Look at my city. Hamas is trying to kill my children. I didn't do anything to them. Are there weapons in Sderot that they are trying to hit?"
Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi
"Where have they been for the past 13 years? Now they are finally getting a taste of what it is like to live here. There are times that we get 60 rockets a day. Maybe now that they feel it, the government will finally do something", she stated. In southern Israel hardest hit by the rockets, people remain in close quarters to shelter.
People are beginning to use a smartphone application alerting them to incoming rockets when they are unable to hear air-raid sirens. Mahmoud Abbas is finally taking notice, as well. Not particularly in sympathy with the residents of Sderot, but alarmed over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza where Hamas has finally provoked Israel sufficiently to react with force and the intention to destroy their rocketry and their leadership.
The political alliance that resulted in the unity Fatah-Hamas government is being strained over this latest event that has overtaken the area. Hamas was less than pleased with Mr. Abbas when he voiced compassion for the three abducted Israeli Jewish teens. Less well known is the friction that arose between the two factions when Mr. Abbas refused to place 58,000 employees of the former Hamas government in Gaza on the PA payroll.
After all, the bulk of those donations enabling the Palestinian Authority to function financially come from the European Union and North America as well as the United Nations; among whom Hamas has a sufficiently unsavoury reputation to be formally classified as a terrorist organization. And of course, generally speaking, one is known by the company one keeps....
About 20,000 rockets have been aimed at Sderot and the surrounding area over the last nine years. When residents hear the air raid siren they know they have all of 15 seconds to take shelter.
Labels: Conflict, Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestinian Authority
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 12, 2014
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