Rethinking Gaza

If you've been following any Israeli news source, you've probably read that rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip have been increasing over the last couple of weeks. The small city of Sderot which is only miles from Gaza is the location most often hit. The rockets are generally small and very erratic but they have claimed lives and sent most of the area into fear. The IDF has responded and have prevented numerous attacks, but also have killed civilians. Recently, a sort of cease fire has been put into place, but no one is confident that the cease will hold (in fact there have been three rockets shot into Israel since the cease fire).

It's a rather serious situation and many in Israel are rethinking the decision to evacuate from Gaza unilaterally 18 months ago. It's not as if the general public thought that an enhanced presence in Gaza was a good thing, and most civilians, especially the non-religious ones, didn't want their sons serving and defending a few number of people in the Gaza strip. However, the withdrawal was billed as a way to bring security (if not peace) to a volatile border and there is no doubt, that quiet has not come to the Gaza Israel border. In fact the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Hamas in July is still in captivity and there has been very little progress in securing his release.

The future of Gaza is in remarkable flux. Constant tensions between Hamas and Fatah, Israel and Palestine, Orthodox and Secular will continue to plague the area -- hopefully the cease fire and some open dialogue will surface and better days are on the horizon.