Gaza, a Simmering Caldron
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
December 12, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - While Gaza-based Palestinians were firing a salvo of 18 Kassam rockets on Sderot Wednesday morning, the Security Cabinet was advising the government to refrain from a large-scale incursion into the Strip.
At the same time, Sderot residents were en route to Jerusalem to present a petition to the High Court of Justice, asking that the government fund bomb shelters for 800 residences in the rocket-beleaguered town.
The government preempted today's hearing by recommending that the court reject the petition on the grounds that fortifying homes falls under its jurisdiction, not the court's.
But Sderot residents say Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave his word that the government would provide protection for residents of the western Negev.
"We measure everything according to the courts," said Haim Yelin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council representing Israeli communities in proximity to the Gaza border.
"We have forgotten what morality is. Is it moral to leave 20,000 to 30,000 residents without shelter? This is a moral question, not a legal one," he said.
During today's rocket attacks, one girl was wounded by shrapnel and several other residents suffered shock.
Sderot Mayor Resigns
While Sderot residents were petitioning the court, the city's mayor, Eli Moyal, announced his resignation.
"This role is too big for any person," Moyal told Israel Radio at noon on Wednesday. "I don't want to stay in office until the day 20 children die in Sderot," he said.
Moyal told listeners he'd submitted his resignation to Interior Minister Meir Shitreet that morning while Kassam rockets were falling in and around the city.
"It's something I've been thinking of for a long time," he said. "I don't want to make the decision to open schools tomorrow because a Kassam might land there, and I'll be blamed for opening the school," he said.
Hamas: Boycott the Meeting
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Hamas officials called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to boycott Wednesday's meeting with Israel, the first get together since the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last month.
"The hand of the enemy is still dripping with the blood of the martyrs," said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu, referring to the six Palestinians killed in the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) counter-terror operations in Gaza yesterday. The IDF incursion was designed to stop the rocket attacks against Sderot and other Israeli communities along its border with Gaza.
"It is a mark of shame to go to the negotiations tomorrow," Nunu said.
Six Palestinian terrorists were killed in two separate operations in Gaza yesterday, while four IDF soldiers were wounded.
PA officials also complained that Israel's operations in Gaza were sabotaging the peace talks.
"This operation is a severe blow to the PA leadership and moderate Palestinians," said one official. "We believe this is a deliberate attempt by Israel to foil Wednesday's negotiations with the Palestinians," he said.
Israelis Disagree
"You can't say we don't have the right to act against terrorists from Gaza because of one event or another," said one staffer from the prime minister's office.
"If we don't act, then we'll wake up one day in the future and face a much bigger problem in Gaza that will be even more difficult to deal with," he said.
While the Palestinian Authority planned to meet with Israeli officials at Jerusalem's King David Hotel today, they asked that the event be kept low profile to protest yesterday's IDF operations in Gaza.
Some analysts believe that sooner or later, the simmering caldron in Gaza will spill over to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and torpedo efforts to resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict set forth at the Annapolis meeting.
Sources: YNet news service, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz
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