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Feb. 15, 2008
Dimona – a show of intent
Suicide bombers return to the streets of Israel's cities.
EDGAR ASHER ISRANET
A few weeks ago, I had a couple of stories to cover in the Red Sea resort of Eilat. Usually when I have to go to Eilat, I go by air, as the flight takes between half an hour and 50 minutes, depending on the type of aircraft being used. The journey to the airport, checking in, security and waiting for the flight to be called, and then the flight itself can together easily be anything up to three hours. So this time, I decided to drive, with my wife, and we would tack on a few days at one of Eilat's splendid hotels and just relax, which for me is a little bit of a luxury.
The journey down was very uneventful. Nowadays, it's an easy, safe, four-hour trip from my home in Petach Tikvah, because of the new Route 6 north-south highway and the Be'er Sheva bypass. After about two hours, we arrived in Dimona and decided to stop by the shopping precinct for a short break and have morning coffee – that was a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, a short distance from where I had previously parked my car, was the scene of mayhem, as suicide bombers returned to the streets of Israel. A woman bomber blew herself up, killing a 73-year-old local resident and injuring about a dozen more people. A second suicide bomber, apparently feigning injury, was lying on the ground among some of the casualties, waiting for the ambulance and rescue crews to come close so that he could blow himself up and kill more Israelis. A very observant policeman noticed him move his hand slowly down his body towards what he recognized as a suicide bomb belt, obviously with the aim of detonating it. In an instant, the policemen drew his revolver and shot the terrorist dead before he could do any more harm. The policeman's observation was 100 per cent correct – he saved many lives.
Today, there is confusion as to exactly from where the terrorists came. One of the reasons for this is because Palestinian groups both in Gaza and the West Bank are falling over themselves to claim responsibility. Videos have been released showing the two "martyrs" making their final statements before embarking on their "heroic" deed.
As I looked at the various television stations broadcasting scenes of the bloodshed, which have not been seen in Israel for more than a year now, I felt a feeling of déjà vu. My wife and I could so easily have been present when these perverted people tried to kill as many Jews as possible – not that this was the first time that such bombings had been close to places we had visited, after all, Petach Tikvah has had its share of similar deeds in the past.
Such events bring into sharp focus the futility of continuing any dialogue with the Palestinians. The Hamas leadership openly, and without any subtlety, praised the bombers and, as if to underline their righteousness, aimed a few well-placed Kassam rockets on the beleaguered town of Sderot. For Hamas, there is no recognition of Israel's right to exist and, as far as they are concerned, the terror will continue. Every retaliatory attack by Israel will be seen as a further instance of the "Zionist entity" giving the Palestinians no other choice but to send their precious sons and daughters to some Valhalla in the sky.
The Palestinian representatives act like the man who shoots his parents and asks for sympathy, as he is now an orphan. Thousands of crude rockets have been fired into the area bordering on the Gaza Strip. Hamas tells the world that it has to continue its aggression, but is hard put to explain exactly why. The agents of violence and disunity, represented by Iran and Syria, are working overtime to ensure that no deal is brokered between the Palestinians and Israel.
In world terms, the Middle East crisis is a small affair, just as the land being argued over is a small parcel of land. It is a conflict that could be solved to the benefit of everybody in the region. The Palestinians just have to understand that, apart from making unreasonable demands, they too have to make certain sacrifices.
Many Israelis in the so-called peace camp have forgotten exactly who they are, and have been so brainwashed by Arab demands that the long history of the land of Israel is for them a blur. As for the Palestinian people, they are being led to slaughter by co-religionists who feel that by keeping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the boil they will preserve their own dictatorial regimes and spread their warped view of Islam around the world.
Dimona has shown once again the mindset of the extremist Palestinians. And yet, despite always being designated the cause of all evil in the region and beyond, Israel behaves in inexplicable ways. Why, I ask, is Israel responsible for supplying power to Gaza, particularly as long as a single rocket is being fired into Israel? The cry of humanitarian necessity by Hamas and Fatah is a farce. If the inhabitants of Gaza do not want to live side by side with Israel in peace and good neighborliness, then build a fence around the strip and hand over the responsibility for fuel and food supplies to Egypt. The food and fuel can be sent into Gaza along the same tunnels that bring in the arms supplies.
At the moment, Hamas are our enemy and, in my opinion, we do not supply our enemies with fuel and provisions to enable them to effectively maintain a low-scale war against Israel. I have said many times that this whole area could be a tourist nirvana, with its history, landscape, sea and sand. There would be employment for all – Jews and Arabs. With peace, millions of visitors would come to the Middle East year in and year out: the Gaza coast has some of the finest beaches in the whole Mediterranean.
The next time I drive past the shopping centre in Dimona, I will remember the time I stopped for coffee and think to myself about the futility of the Islamic extremism that is turning the world upside down.
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