The views from Gaza were horrible, where hundreds of children were killed during the Israeli assault. Devastating stories come also from the Israeli side, where kids in Sderot have lived under fire for the last 8 years.
Was this war really necessary? In the last six months before the war there had been a cease fire between Israel and the Hamas. This was a peaceful solution for both problems. No dead Palestinians, no rockets on Israel. Who ended the truce?
The views are conflicting (obviously). Israel argues that the Hamas ended the truce, while the Palestinians argue that it was Israel.
The Hamas was the first to declare the truce was over. Certainly, they made the political mistake. More accurately, they announced that they are not renewing it after 6 months.
What is less known is that this was a result of an Israeli attack in Gaza, and thus de facto, it was Israel who broke the truce.
Here is the full story:
And for those who need more references, here they are.
Notice that the Israeli attack took place on November 4th, the day of elections in America. A coincidence or an attempt to avoid the media? (surprisingly, the current war ended right before inauguration, not to upset the new boss).
Anyhow, as an Israeli, I found the whole thing quite disturbing. Was Israel really the first to break the cease fire? So I asked a friend of mine who lives in Sderot. Yes, she is one of those who were attacked almost daily for the last eight years, until the cease fire broke. Surely, she knows when rockets were falling and when not. And here is what she said (Hebrew followed by my translation):
בינתיים צה"ל ממשיך לכתוש גם הלילה, בשביל האגו של מנהיגנו שלא מסוגלים לסיים את הפרשה ורבים על הקרדיט. פשוט נורא."
Translation: "This is true. Several missiles were fired here and there, but not by the Hamas. We know from our friends in Gaza that the Hamas indeed enforced the cease fire with an iron fist. Israel broke the truce first with the tunnel story and then with the mines. Israeli killed 20 Palestinians, so then they took their turn, and the rest is known. Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues to pound this night too, for the ego of our leaders that cannot end the story and fight over the credit. Simply horrible."
(January 14, 2009)
We heard similar things during an event we held here in Pittsburgh. On the line is Eric Yellin, another friend form Sderot (his blog is certainly worth reading).
Btw, also the main-stream Israeli media acknowledges it. Only that according to Israeli estimates, the Israeli attacks should not have caused the Hamas to break the truce (Hebrew only, sorry).
Let me make several things clear:
- No Hamas rockets on civilians in Israel are legitimate, of course, even if Israel was the first to break the truce.
- Hamas wanted to continue the truce not to work on its flower garden, but to rebuild its army.
- Perhaps the Israeli attack on November 4th was necessary.
Still, there was a truce, no people were hurt on either side of the border, Israel broke it, and now it is lying. If these facts are wrong, please show me where.
So I went on to study this issue. How do truces between Israel and the Palestinians end? This post examines who was the first to kill after days of non-violence. It found that "it is overwhelmingly Israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict: 79% of all conflict pauses were interrupted when Israel killed a Palestinian, while only 8% were interrupted by Palestinian attacks (the remaining 13% were interrupted by both sides on the same day)."
In other words, after quiet days, it is usually Israel that is the first to reignite violence. This is even clearer when looking at longer periods of no violence:
"of the 25 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than a week, Israel unilaterally interrupted 24, or 96%, and it unilaterally interrupted 100% of the 14 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than 9 days."
I certainly do not justify the rockets on Israel. As said earlier, I have friends with children that live under these attacks. The Hamas is a terror organization. I simply examines the deeds of my people, looking at myself in the mirror. Is Israel much better?
But why does Israel do that? Unlike the facts written above, these are speculations. I will address these some other time. May we all have a quiet year.
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