JERUSALEM -- Since its evacuation of the Gaza Strip last August, Israel has been constantly attacked by Kassam rockets launched from Gaza. The residents of Sderot, a southern city near Gaza, have become hostages of these terror attacks, which harass their daily lives.
Why on earth are the Palestinians doing this, instead of starting a nation-building process? Weren't they blaming all those years the Israeli occupation for all their miseries, and now, when Israel is out, they launch these rockets, which force Israel to retaliate? If this is not enough, then Palestinian terrorists are masterminding suicide attacks that force Israel to close the main crossing from Gaza, the lifelines for this wretched area.
A terrible dilemma
Palestinian paradoxes aside, Israel is determined to protect its citizens. No country in the world would sit idle while its people are viciously and relentlessly attacked. However, this self-defense, which is an accepted principle in international law, does not come without some great difficulties. As a matter of fact, it puts Israel on the horns of a terrible dilemma.
To start with, the people who launch the Kassam rockets on Israel hide among civilians. It was Mao Zedong who taught many revolutionaries over the generations that the guerrilla fighters should move in the civilian population "like fish in water." I'm not sure that the Kassam launchers in Gaza have read all of Mao's books, but one thing they know first hand: Israel is a vibrant democracy, with sensitivity to the loss of human lives, and with free press that criticizes the government and limits its freedom of action. Therefore, by hiding the launchers in homes and garages, by launching them from yards close to populated areas, and by always moving with a human shield of relatives, preferably women and children, the terrorists make it very difficult for Israel to hit them.
Targeting masterminds
Doing nothing, however, is not an option, and the other extreme -- conquering Gaza again -- is also a terrible alternative. Israel, therefore, decided on targeting the master-minds and the perpetrators of terror, in order to disrupt their deadly campaign. As former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon explained to The New York Times in 2001, "The plan is to place the terrorists in varying situations every day and knock them off balance so that they will be busy protecting themselves.''
Singling out the terrorists from the innocent people of Gaza is not a simple task at all. Yet, in the last several months, thanks to a formidable technological and intelligence effort, as well as a cool-headed decision making, Israel has managed to take out key terror operatives and consequently, to undermine their sinister scheme, while going out of its way not to harm civilians who were not involved in terror.
Having said that, targeting terrorists who hide among civilians might result in innocent people being hit. The term ''collateral damage'' used to describe these incidents does injustice to the realities on the ground.
Gruesome sights
Just this week we have seen on television the gruesome sights of people dead and injured because a missile went astray. (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized yesterday for Israeli airstrikes that killed Palestinian civilians.) That these people should have dissociated themselves from the Kassam launchers is true; that they are the victims of their fellow Palestinian terrorists' actions is true again; and still, every time an innocent person in Gaza is hit by mistake by an Israeli missile is a tragedy.
Then, damned if you do; damned if you don't. No wonder that voices are heard today that the only way to break this vicious cycle is to resume negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. If the Palestinians -- Hamas included -- drop terror and recognize Israel's right to exist in peace, all Israelis would welcome it enthusiastically. But if attacks on the people of Sderot continue, Israel will have to continue chasing the terrorists in Gaza. The Palestinians just can't have their cake and eat it, too.
This article was first published in The Miami Herald on June 23, 2006.
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The opinions expressed herein are the author's own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of the Israel Democracy Institute.