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Orit is a painter and writer currently working on her first novel which follows the process of self-discovery of a young Gush Katif refugee.
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Orit conquers a rock: "Let me at 'em!"
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By Orit
July 16, 2006
On the streets of Neve Dekalim, as the IDF arrived to carry out its bravest mission yet--the expulsion of Jews from their home--I'd sometimes stop soldiers in the street and talk to them.
I remember talking to this one soldier. He was tall with brown hair and droopy brown eyes. I said something to the effect that he's ruining lives of innocent people by expelling them.
"And what about me"? he whined. "Aren't the lives of soldiers important?"
"This won't immunize you," I hurled back. "The violence won't stop, just move around."
A few weeks later, the gorgeous Israeli national service girl who hosted me in Gush Katif during the Disengagement took me to visit a commander named Guy who had been stationed in Gaza before the withdrawal. He lived not far from me in Tel Aviv. Guy was against the Disengagement. He had to be; otherwise, my friend wouldn't have had a crush on him.
"The people of Gush Katif are good people," the tall muscular blonde said, warmly. "I couldn't stand to do them harm."
His roommate, on the other hand, an Ethiopian shabaknik (secret service agent), said: "I'm glad we got out of there. Now I'll never have to worry about Guy coming home or not."
In the few months following the Disengagement, hundreds of Kassam rockets fell on southern kibbutzes and towns. There was no sign of the "peace" Israelis desperately envisioned as a result of the pullout. I asked my leftist journalism friend if he still supported the Disengagement.
"Of course. Not one soldier died in Gaza since we left."
He was right.
Then this last May and June, the sleepy southern town of Sderot absorbed an unprecedented number of Kassam rockets. The residents held protests and strikes. Children were afraid to go to school. Some even wet their beds. Parents worried about every step they took. Some left town. People were hurt and property was damaged.
"Kassams Shmassams" people said, including a government minister. If there are no major casualties, Kassam attacks aren't worthy of serious reckoning or retaliation. They certainly don't justify any major offensive in Gaza. Furthermore, we're only talking about Sderot, an insignificant town populated mostly with lower class, Sephardic residents.
Then a Kassam rocket hit Ashkelon. Now that's cause for a little more worry because Ashkelon is a big city. People might really get hurt, and this time it's the people that count--the urban people who represent the Israeli slice of life. The government decided to fire a bit more into Gaza, but not much more.
Then on June 25 the most sacred element of Israeli society, more sacred than its civilians--the soldiers--were attacked. Two were killed and one captured by Hamas. Finally the government began to think that maybe it's time for self-defense. It launched an intense offensive in Gaza, including artillery fire and ground operations while wailing about the loss of soldier life. Around the same time an 18 year-old settler was kidnapped and murdered, but the government still spoke about surrendering the West Bank as opposed to fighting there.
On July 13 eight soldiers were killed and two were captured by Hizbollah on the Lebanese border. The government finally began to talk about war.
And when a Katyusha rocket hit--oh my!--the large port city of Haifa--Israel intensified its offensive in Lebanon and completely ruled out negotiating with terrorists.
You see, there is a distinct hierarchy in Israel. Terrorist attacks on civilians in falafel stands and buses demand not self-defense, but negotiations with terrorists. Attacks on settlements demand not retaliation, but the removal of Israeli citizens from their homes and, hence, the destruction of their lives. Kassam rockets on small Israeli towns with average people demand only symbolic shelling on Kassam launch areas. Kassam rockets on bigger cities demand harder shelling. Attacks on soldiers demand ground operations and air force raids. Katyusha rockets on the more affluent northern cities, and particularly, major cities like Haifa, demand all-out war.
You see, soldiers are more important than civilians, particularly settlers and simple-folk. The military's job is to protect the military, not the civilians. The lives of civilians have to be ruined for their sake. But when a soldier is killed or captured, Israel is compelled to fight back.
Another hierarchy has to be factored into this one: who initiates the violence and from where? Is it the peace-loving Palestinian terrorists?
Is it the democratically elected, and therefore, legitimate Hamas government? Is it coming from areas from which we withdrew? Or is it coming from the "occupied territories?" But this is the subject of another article.
Despite this policy of discrimination, or thanks to it, soldiers are being killed, wounded, and captured all over the place, in part because the enemy understands our hierarchy. Now Israel has been dragged into an all-out war which is claiming the lives of the more important secular, Ashkenazi civilians and the lives of more soldiers.
So my dear soldier, shabbaknik, journalist: you were so worried about your precious soldiers? Well, they're all safe now, just like you predicted. Mothers are relieved their baby boys are coming back home. Right.
It's about time Israelis started worrying about civilians, whether or not they are Orthodox settlers or poor little Sephardic children, and stop waiting until we have to count the dead--civilian or military--to get the guts to fight back.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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