The impoverished Negev town of S'derot has become the Israeli Guernica. It is targeted by PLO Kassam rockets almost every day. A number of S'derot locals have already been killed, even more have been wounded, lots of locals have been hospitalized for shock, scores have migrated out of the town, and on this past Wednesday, two Ethiopian-Jewish toddlers were murdered in the latest bombing. Let us emphasize that S'derot is not in the Gaza Strip. It is in pre-1967 Israel, well with the Green Line. It is not a "settlement", unless one considers Tel Aviv and Haifa also to be settlements.
The Israeli government's reaction to the daily bombings of S'derot by missiles has been studied indifference and suggestions that S'derot residents learn to grin and live with it. After all, I doubt if there is a single Israeli media figure who came from S'derot. The yuppies and the chattering classes never even go there. The only politician to have emerged from S'derot is Amir Peretz, the godfather of the Histadrut trade union crime family. But he has not spoken a single word about the bombardments and the deaths from Oslo in S'derot. Peretz is too busy sabotaging the Israeli economy; that is to say, doing to the economy what the PLO does to S'derot.
Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon's way of dealing with the problem has been to send in occasional symbolic half-hearted military incursions, blow up a couple of empty buildings and then retreat. It is useless even to fire Israeli shells at the "source of the Kassam fire". The Kassams are set up and then launched via remote control cell phones, so even real-time shelling of the launch pads would do nothing.
The Guernica bombardment of S'derot is the logical and inevitable result of the Oslo mega-stupidity of turning Gaza over to the terrorists. The Kassams are manufactured inside the Gaza Strip, using the tons of explosives smuggled into Gaza via the Egyptian smuggling tunnels, those same tunnels the Israeli government preferred for a decade to pretend were not there, the same tunnels the ISM's Rachel Corrie committed suicide trying to defend from an Israeli earth mover.
There is absolutely no doubt that the moment Sharon's unilateral capitulation to terror is implemented in Gaza next year - when the Jewish "settlers" are expelled, when Jews are prohibited thereafter from entering Gaza, and when not a single Israel soldier will be stationed any longer inside the Gaza Strip - the carnage from the Kassams will escalate enormously. S'derot will simply be emptied out, in the next stage of the Oslo capitulation and appeasement. Ashkelon has already been targeted by Kassam missiles from Gaza and is likely to be the next town down the line to be emptied under PLO fire.
A few years ago, when Kiryat Shemona was being shelled every day by the Hizbullah from Lebanon, under the "controlled carnage" agreements Israel maintained there, I proposed a master strategy for ending the carnage. It is precisely the same strategy I would like to propose now for S'derot.
I hereby propose the organization of the S'derot Defense Forces (SDF). The SDF will be a militia entirely operated and manned by the residents of S'derot. Its function will be to retaliate whenever S'derot is attacked. The SDF will be equipped with heavy artillery, tanks, rockets, jets and a battleship. An aircraft carrier might be a nice addition down the road, as would be heavy air bombers. Whenever S'derot is attacked, the SDF will saturate the Gaza Strip with rockets, bombs and shells. Israel will not be held responsible. The Israeli government can shrug its shoulders and say: "Hey, that ain't us bombing Gaza." Any Gaza residents getting killed or hurt from the retaliation shelling will be the responsibility of the PLO.
The SDF will not be answerable to the Israeli government. Just like the Israeli government has washed its hands of any responsibility for the security of S'derot and abandoned any military role in retaliating for attacks on S'derot, so the SDF will announce that it is not automatically going to respond to any calls for help from Israel, nor will it automatically support defense efforts by Israel.
A single Kassam, mortar shell, Katyusha, suicide bomber or large rock used by the PLO or its affiliates in Gaza to attack S'derot will result in the saturation bombing of the entire Gaza Strip. Sharon need not worry, because there will be no Jews or Israeli soldiers there to risk getting hit or to be blamed. If the Gaza Strip is simply emptied of population due to the retaliation shelling, well, that is no worse a consequence than S'derot being emptied out as a result of Oslo cowardice and defeatism.
You might want to fax this proposal to your favorite Israeli politician.
The Israeli government's reaction to the daily bombings of S'derot by missiles has been studied indifference and suggestions that S'derot residents learn to grin and live with it. After all, I doubt if there is a single Israeli media figure who came from S'derot. The yuppies and the chattering classes never even go there. The only politician to have emerged from S'derot is Amir Peretz, the godfather of the Histadrut trade union crime family. But he has not spoken a single word about the bombardments and the deaths from Oslo in S'derot. Peretz is too busy sabotaging the Israeli economy; that is to say, doing to the economy what the PLO does to S'derot.
Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon's way of dealing with the problem has been to send in occasional symbolic half-hearted military incursions, blow up a couple of empty buildings and then retreat. It is useless even to fire Israeli shells at the "source of the Kassam fire". The Kassams are set up and then launched via remote control cell phones, so even real-time shelling of the launch pads would do nothing.
The Guernica bombardment of S'derot is the logical and inevitable result of the Oslo mega-stupidity of turning Gaza over to the terrorists. The Kassams are manufactured inside the Gaza Strip, using the tons of explosives smuggled into Gaza via the Egyptian smuggling tunnels, those same tunnels the Israeli government preferred for a decade to pretend were not there, the same tunnels the ISM's Rachel Corrie committed suicide trying to defend from an Israeli earth mover.
There is absolutely no doubt that the moment Sharon's unilateral capitulation to terror is implemented in Gaza next year - when the Jewish "settlers" are expelled, when Jews are prohibited thereafter from entering Gaza, and when not a single Israel soldier will be stationed any longer inside the Gaza Strip - the carnage from the Kassams will escalate enormously. S'derot will simply be emptied out, in the next stage of the Oslo capitulation and appeasement. Ashkelon has already been targeted by Kassam missiles from Gaza and is likely to be the next town down the line to be emptied under PLO fire.
A few years ago, when Kiryat Shemona was being shelled every day by the Hizbullah from Lebanon, under the "controlled carnage" agreements Israel maintained there, I proposed a master strategy for ending the carnage. It is precisely the same strategy I would like to propose now for S'derot.
I hereby propose the organization of the S'derot Defense Forces (SDF). The SDF will be a militia entirely operated and manned by the residents of S'derot. Its function will be to retaliate whenever S'derot is attacked. The SDF will be equipped with heavy artillery, tanks, rockets, jets and a battleship. An aircraft carrier might be a nice addition down the road, as would be heavy air bombers. Whenever S'derot is attacked, the SDF will saturate the Gaza Strip with rockets, bombs and shells. Israel will not be held responsible. The Israeli government can shrug its shoulders and say: "Hey, that ain't us bombing Gaza." Any Gaza residents getting killed or hurt from the retaliation shelling will be the responsibility of the PLO.
The SDF will not be answerable to the Israeli government. Just like the Israeli government has washed its hands of any responsibility for the security of S'derot and abandoned any military role in retaliating for attacks on S'derot, so the SDF will announce that it is not automatically going to respond to any calls for help from Israel, nor will it automatically support defense efforts by Israel.
A single Kassam, mortar shell, Katyusha, suicide bomber or large rock used by the PLO or its affiliates in Gaza to attack S'derot will result in the saturation bombing of the entire Gaza Strip. Sharon need not worry, because there will be no Jews or Israeli soldiers there to risk getting hit or to be blamed. If the Gaza Strip is simply emptied of population due to the retaliation shelling, well, that is no worse a consequence than S'derot being emptied out as a result of Oslo cowardice and defeatism.
You might want to fax this proposal to your favorite Israeli politician.