Imagine Yourself Living There

There is a lot of debate over the behavior of Israel in the context of the situation in Gaza. Claims are made as to the force that is exercised to fight off the attacks on Sederot and the area from Gaza and I thought it might be important to put things in the right context.

War is hell. While I hate to see innocent people die, it is a part of war. I can guarantee that the Israelis take every precaution to minimize civilian casualties. However, in a war, civilian casualties are not unavoidable

And what is the problem really? Why can’t civilians be spared? The simple answer is that the origin of fire on Israel are from the city itself. Think about the terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11 and the American response - Bombing Afghanistan. Response that resulted in many civilians being killed. Was that the purpose? Of course not, but when fighters and civilians are operating from the same place no principal of war can guarantee the safety of the civilians. There is a common principal that was accepted during war in previous times that says that when someone shoots at you the appropriate response is to shoot back to the origins of fire. Can you imagine hoe many people would have ended up dead if this principal was endorsed. Gaza is so crowded that even with the most accurate targeting of the origins of fire there is no way to do so without killing and injuring hundreds. Not unlike the fighting of the USA in Afghanistan, the Israeli have to depends on operations inside the area of Hamas. I know and I suppose many people know by now that there is no way to resolve this situation by attacks and counter attacks as this is a vicious cycle. Still I don’t feel that the reason for civilian victims on the Palestinian side is carelessness of the Israeli. I think the saying that is suitable here is to tell the Hamas that id you’re living in a glass house don’t throw stones. There is no way to attack from the middle of a dense city and avoid civilian victims. My hope is just that both sides would treat the whole situation from a higher perspective. As attacks and counter attacks just keep the entire area in the same loop and the way out should be in recognizing the mutual benefit of peace.