Sderot is becoming a ghost town as rockets launched by the Palestinians continue to hit Israel.
A 57 year old mother of five became the sixth person in Sderot to be killed by Palestinian rocket attacks. 2 others were wounded, one critically.
In Sderot, people have a sense that the government is unwilling to do anything to stop the attacks for political reasons, and to the jubilation of the Palestinians, the residents of Sderot are voting with their feet. The schools have closed, and people are leaving.
The spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, Muhammad Abed al-Aal, better known as Abu Abir, told said: "We are proud to see the residents of Sderot leaving town with their children and luggage, and advise everyone to evacuate."
Abu Abir also threatened that "soon, the rockets will start flying from the West Bank towns toward cities deep in enemy territory. We've vowed in the past that we will evacuate Sderot, and we will stand by our promise."
And of course, Olmert, as usual, made things worse by stating that there was `no ready way to stop Palestinian rocket fire' , which is perhaps one of the most bald faced lies this master of the art has ever told in public.
Speaking of lies, remember when the proponents of the Israeli retreat from Gaza spouted ad naseum about how the retreat from Gaza would help bring peace with the Palestinians, the Gaza fence would protect Israel, and the IDF shouldn't have to be in Gaza to protect those rotten fanatical `settlers'?
Guess what: the Palestinians are not interested in peace, fences can be fired over or breached, and it turns out the IDF weren't in Gaza to `protect the settlers'...they were in Gaza to protect all of Israel.
And here are some more lies, told smoothly by another expert in the art. Palestinian Capo del tutti Mahmoud Abbas weighed in with his version of `peace' and warned the Israelis not to miss what he called `a chance for peace' and to open talks immediately.
Abbas talks like he's holding a pretty good hand, which he probably is. He told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he had received what he called `clear assurances' from the US (and probably the EU as well) that the economic embargo against the Hamas government would be lifted and all IDF activity stopped once the unity government he wants is in place. I'm sure James Baker and the Iraq Study Group had something to say in the matter.
Of course, the major conditions the West placed on resuming paying the freight for the Palestinian Authority - that they renounce terrorism, end incitement and recognize Israel's right to exist - are being finessed. Abbas himself has said that theres's no obligation for either Hamas or his own Fatah faction to recognize Israel.
Last night in a speech broadcast on Palestinian TV, Abbas laid out his version of a peaceful settlement, insisting that `peace' depends on "full Israeli withdrawal from the Arab and Palestinian lands occupied in 1967," referring to the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, as well as a `solution' for Palestinian refugees.
There is no `peace' and no negotiation possible. It's just like Arafat, the Original Gangster said right after he signed the Oslo Accords: `Either we will push the Jews into the sea or they will push us into the sea.'
The Israelis will have to make a choice, and soon, on which option they prefer.
The crocodile will always want more, and more, and more...until there's nothing left.
I don't get it. If Gaza continues to fire rockets into Israel, why doesn't Israel just relocate every single resident of Gaza to the west bank (or Lebanon or Jordan) and get rid of the problem. One front in the missle war is better than two.
ReplyDeleteSure they will be condemned for it, but they just have to point out that the alternative was killing them all. Provide them with food, tents and a huge pile of cash to be used for building new houses. If they choose not to use the cash for rebuilding (which is the most likely outcome) then that's their problem.
I'm not sure the problem has gotten bad enough for this sort of solution yet, but if there is another missle war, then this option won't look so far fetched.
Would that it were that simple,61North.
ReplyDeleteIf the Israelis were to do what you suggest (a) the casualties would be horrendous, especially as the Palestinians love to use women and children as human shields for their murderous activities. (B) The condemnation would be major, with the Arabs and their useful idiots in the Western media showing poigniant pictures of Israel's `ethnic cleansing'. and (c) it would not solve the essential problem,which is the existence of a terrorist, genocidal state on Israel's borders. It would just move the problem closer to Israel's major population centers.
Want to see a real solution for Middle East peace? One so fair and reasonable that the Arabs would never ever accept it, and would thus reveal to all but the most stubborn jihad groupies that Israel is NOT the problem? Here you are:
J O S H U A P U N D I T: A real peace proposal for the Middle East
crocs are good for three things;
ReplyDelete1) boots/shoes
2) purses
3) belts
Freedom Fighter,
ReplyDeleteI had read your peace proposal before and think it's a good political step to reveal the hypocrisy of the Arabs. However, until they accept the existence of Israel (which is unlikely anytime soon), I'm thinking about the security of Israel and the coming war with Iran and its proxies.
Right now, Israel has two fronts in the missle war, Gaza and Lebanon/Syria. To protect Israel, the enemy has to either quit fighting and accept Israel (unlikely) or Israel has to push these fronts far enough away from Israel's borders that the missles can't reach Israel. Pushing the borders back isn't possible in Gaza due to its small size. Therefore my suggestion to just get rid of Gaza.
I'm not saying kill everyone, just consider relocating the peaceful ones and killing the ones who fire on the IDF. This won't be pretty, but would essentially eliminate one front in the missle war.
Most people aren't this far along in their thinking yet (I'm a former military officer and think about "what ifs" a lot), but might quickly get there if a nuclear missle is launched from Gaza.
The other major alternative is to get the enemy to quit fighting, but that would involve an even larger regional war to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc. That war may come and will make clearing Gaza seem like child's play.