Tuesday December 27, 2005

Column:

Qassam missiles launched from Gaza into Israel are an almost daily menace. To live in an Israeli community bordering Gaza is to live with the constant threat of a missile falling on your head, on your home, on your child's school.

And now Palestinians are claiming that they have new and improved Qassam rockets. What makes a rocket new and improved - a greater range. These new missiles can reach targets that are up to twenty-five kilometers away. In plain English that means that towns up to eighteen miles away from Gaza are now in the Qassam danger zone.

Israelis have had enough. The barrage of attacks must be ended. But rather than fight fire with fire, missile with missile, certain Israeli leaders are suggesting that a tried and true method, a method used as a deterrent by Israel in Lebanon be reinstated, this time to stop the onslaught of missiles from Gaza.

The suggestion presented in the Knesset Defense Committee was that for every missile the Palestinians send from Gaza, Israel shuts down electricity in Gaza City for an hour. Israel can do it, shutting off electricity in Gaza City is, figuratively, a flick of the switch.

The question is should they? Should Israel punish all the residents of Gaza City for the actions of a few?

The threat of cutting off electricity, some might even call it an incentive, was a tool that Israel wielded effectively during the Lebanese War. It was used in order to urge the Lebanese government to take actions against those terrorists who attacked Israeli civilians living on the border. It was an attempt to influence Lebanese society. In effect, Israel was speaking to the citizens of Lebanon, asking if their discomfort at home was worth the minor successes of the terror attacks on Israelis.

In addition, Israel would regularly disturb Lebanon with low flying fighter jets. The jets would break the sound barrier. The noise would shatter windows. Almost everything that was not anchored down would topple down. The entire exercise was an extension of the dictum "if we can't rest in peace, you won't rest a wink either."

But will it work in Gaza? Should it even be attempted?

The idea is under debate. The principle is gaining popularity. But it is highly unlikely that turning off the lights of Gaza will become the new weapon used to stop the flow of Qassam missiles launched from Gaza onto Israel.

Make no mistake about it, periodically Palestinian electricity has been cut off by Israel. In the future, electricity will probably be cut off again, but under different circumstances. Until now, cutting off electricity was used as retaliation for a spike in terror operations resulting in serious damage and a significant number of Israeli casualties. Only then do Israeli helicopters and sometimes, even fighter jets, target electric plants and "turn off the lights," as the strike is called using the lingo of the pilots.

So why doesn't Israel "turn off the lights" each time a missile is shot? Why shouldn't they?

Because firing so indiscriminately would mean a drastic departure from Israel's current policy. It would mean attacking innocent civilians, masses of people, simply because they live in Gaza City. Israel chooses not to do that.

Israel hits a target if the location was used as a platform for an attack or as a hiding place for attackers. Israel tries to target only those individuals responsible for past attacks and those planning future attacks. Israeli leaders and decision makers do not say that all Palestinians are terrorists. The defense of Israel does not entail the destruction of innocents. Israel is not simple doling out vendettas. Israel does not practice collective punishment.

The latest polls have 62% of Palestinians agreeing with Hamas and with the methods Hamas employs to attack Israel. And still, even while Israeli would like to punch out the lights of many Palestinians they will not, despite the temptation, turn off the lights of the Palestinians of Gaza City.