This Ongoing War: A Blog: 27-Mar-13: Instead of a minor footnote, this could have been today's main headline

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

27-Mar-13: Instead of a minor footnote, this could have been today's main headline

IDF security checkpoint [Image Source]

It's a tiny story; insignificant really, except for those of us with some imagination... and personal experience. It very likely was not reported at all in the news channels which reach most of our readers. But it happened, and it has implications.

A Palestinian Arab male (at this stage, no further details) was stopped at the IDF security checkpoint at Bekaot, south-east of Sh'chem (Nablus) in the northern Jordan Valley yesterday (Tuesday), the first day of Passover.

The personnel manning the checkpoint found four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on him [Times of Israel]. Army sappers safely detonated the IEDs in a controlled explosion. The man is in the custody of the security forces who have some questions for him.

Questions:

If he had not been intercepted, would this story still be tiny and insignificant?
If there were no IDF security checkpoints, would he have been stopped in some other way before those IEDs were emplaced and triggered, with who-knows-what devastating effect?
Security checkpoints only work when people pass through them, and the security barrier remains - partly because of legal complexity and court cases - incomplete and under construction, meaning this guy could have avoided passing through. Is it better or worse for us if the security checkpoints exist? Assuming (as we believe) that it's better, what can the people who call for their removal, be thinking?

There is an upward trend in Palestinian Arab violence against Israelis (see today's Jerusalem Post backgrounder) as well as several similar life-saving intercepts at the same security checkpoint: for instance in August 2011 and twice in April 2012.

None of this will mean very much to those, sitting far from what goes on here daily, who see such events in ideological, non-humanitarian terms. This is a great shame as well as a disgrace to the people who think that way.

But for those of us whose lives are directly impacted by whether or not terror-minded Palestinian Arab jihadists get through the protective cordon in order to wreak the devastation they seek, yesterday's seizure of concealed lethal weapons is reason to celebrate.

As we mentioned: it's Passover. May the peacefulness continue, along with the watchfulness of those who protect us.

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