December 4, 2009
I have been living in Israel for about two months now working on my Master's degree in Counter-terrorism and Homeland Security Studies. Today's adventure to the Israeli southern town of S'derot really gave national security a grave face.
S'derot is the closest town to the border of Gaza. This community is terrorized by rocket fire and mortar attacks from their Palestinian neighbors who are only a mile away. After the Disengagement of 2005, where Israelis unilaterally pulled troops and settlers out of Gaza, the community of S'derot reaped the consequences. The Isreali government, for a number of reasons, pulled out of Gaza in an attempt to further peace negotiations with Palestinians. The disengagement plan set forth by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was not in the least bit popular and took over a year to enact. With little popularity, settlers were evacuated from twenty one settlements in Gaza. The idea behind Sharon's plan was to signal to the Palestinian leadership that Israel did indeed wish to exchange territories for peace. Unfortunately for the community of S'derot, life became a war zone. As of January of this year, there have been 8,600 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel.
I went with some of my classmates on a school sponsored trip to S'derot (an hour south of where we live) to see the devastation this community faces. Upon arrival we were met with an IDF counter-terrorism expert who briefed us on the current situation and told us that at any moment we could hear the emergency loud-speakers that say "Red Alert" throughout the town. In the event that we did hear the emergency system, we were to get down underneath something if we were inside or if we were outside we were advised just to simply lay down where we were with our hands over our heads. I immediately looked at Dru with nothing but worry written all over my face. I was only in S'derot for one day but I have never experienced anxiety like I did today. I cannot imagine living there or raising children in a place where our lives revolve around an emergency system that sounds giving my family no more than fifteen seconds to hide from such a lethal weapon. As many as 20 rockets in one day have fallen in S'derot.
I have studied the Israeli-Palestinian conflict now for over five years trying to contemplate the best option for a peaceful coexistence between the two peoples. However, after my experience today, I wonder how it will ever be possible to establish peace here. Hamas, who was democratically elected by Palestinians in the last election, use agricultural supplies provided by the Israeli government to make al-Qassam rockets that terrorize members of the Israeli population instead of bolstering their own economy which would benefit the Palestinians in Gaza.
Since it is obligatory for the Israeli government to provide its citizens with optimal national security then it is ogligated to provide defense against rocket fire and thus the conflict continues to remain a cyclical one.
My intention for sharing this is not to provide a biased opinion about the conflict but instead I have the very opposite intention at heart. I always try to look at this conflict objectively weighing both sides, but today I was overwhelmed with reality.
The video posted below is a video we reviewed today. It is definitely worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsEJt9AY5Pc
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