27-Dec-06: So This is What's Meant by Ceasefire

It's hard not become affected by cynicism when you live in this neighbourhood.

We're now into the second month of a "ceasefire" between Israel and the Palestinian Arab leadership. A ceasefire designed to bring an end to Israeli defence actions inside the Gaza Strip on one hand, and to stop the murderous firing of explosive rockets into Israeli cities, towns, settlements, farms, homes and people.

So how effective has it been? Very effective... if you're a Gazan. Israeli military actions inside the Gaza Strip have come to a complete stop, as Israel agreed.

But if you're an Israeli, especially one who lives near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, the picture could not be more different. Eight Qassam rockets were fired into Israel yesterday (Tuesday). That's the largest one-day total since the ceasefire was declared. Sixty rocket attacks so far since the "ceasefire" started. 60.

And at 9 o'clock last night, two Sderot boys, both 14, were injured when a Pal-Arab rocket crashed into the street where they were walking. This morning's reports say Adir Basad is in surgery and in critical condition. And Matan Cohen is in moderate to serious condition having lost one foot and in danger of losing his leg. Matan's home had been hit in a previous Pal-Arab terror attack.

For the record, reports about the two boys and their injuries are almost completely absent from the news coverage coming from this extremely over-covered part of the world. If you do a Google News search now (click here), you'll see that, by and large, the only news reports about Israeli children being injured by Palestinian Arab terrorists and in danger of dying are Israeli sources. The rare foreign reports use such laconic language as "Two Israelis were wounded..."

This is more than just appalling. It's part of a pattern which Israelis can see and almost no one else wants to. To understand what's happening in this ongoing war, you need to be an Israeli or be willing to avail yourself of Israeli news sources. Otherwise you're left wondering why Israel is constantly beating the daylights out of those poor defenceless Pal-Arabs, making their lives miserable with "unprovoked", massive military over-response. 'Activist' news sources such as the French AFP make the task of finding the truth even more challenging when they come up with classics like "The truce has generally held amid hopes that it can help restart the dormant peace process."

Whose hopes? The Pal-Arabs'? For heaven's sake, they openly claim credit for these acts of terror, including last night's. But evidently they don't issue their press releases in the French language.

The news and the way it's reported is a critical part of the advances which terrorists are making against civilized society. What are you doing about it?