Eduhation: New Tactics but Old Story
When I saw the news today I was terribly upset and not for the first time. I am out of the IDF three years now exactly. I am out of IDC five years. I want to believe things have changed but that seems to not be the case and a paper I wrote in college still rings true today.
When I read about the attack on Road 60 I forced myself to watch the video of the attack. I knew the spot where the soldiers were run over by a vehicle. I stood right there hundreds of times during my service.
I cannot remain silent anymore.
The eduhation has to stop. The incitement has to stop. The hatred must stop.
My teacher Dr. Boaz Ganor defines Terrorism and Guerilla Warfare as such:
TERRORISM: Deliberate use of violence against civilians in order to achieve political aims
GUERRILLA WARFARE: Deliberate use of violence against military and security personnel in order to achieve political aims
Yes, the Arabs, in Israel and the territories, are using these means and have used these means since before 1948. But even if one attack today was aimed towards civilians and the other today was aimed at soldiers the underlying reason why the attacks took place is terrifying.
The college paper discussed about the incitement and hate that permeated Palestinian society after the years 1993-2000. During those years Hamas used tactics such as suicide bombing for terror and after 9-11 not only were religious organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, using suicide tactics but so were secular organizations, such as Fatah and Palestinian Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
This became a popular and effective method to terrorize Israel. However, Israel put together certain security measures and it worked. Since 2005 suicide bombings have happened less and less.
But another part in my college paper was this: …said by Hani Al-Hasan, Member of Fatah Central Committee, ‘The armed struggle is sowing and the political struggle is reaping and he who does not sow does not harvest. Yet,’ he emphasized, ‘the harvest should take place in its [right] time… Everything in its [right] time. The current stage is the stage of harvest. In this stage diplomacy comes before the gun and in the time of the sowing the gun comes before diplomacy…'” This was from the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper on August 22, 2005.
All of the world and Israel saw what happened this past summer. I even spoke in my synagogue in New York about a friend I knew from Modiin, Israel, who was killed in the war.
You would think that the Palestinians and the world would understand that the Jewish people and Israel do not intend to leave the land that it fought to return to for 3000 years and that it is about time to come to terms with that?
But the hatred is so strong and the eduhation that takes place along with the incitement creates more opportunities for terror to spread.
The conclusion of this paper was such: For now it is hard for the terror organizations to use suicide bombers because of the Israeli deterrence. The Israeli deterrence can not hold back the individual attacks because the intelligence of the organizations and the deterrence against the organizations does not affect individual motivations for attacks of sacrifice. This is true because of the radicalism that is still prevalent throughout the Palestinian society. While the organizations will now rely on rocket attacks, kidnappings, and politics they will revert back to suicide bombing when first available. The Israeli counter terrorism needs to find a means to change the Palestinian education and to fight the underlying factors of this radicalism in order for there not to be another Intafada with another wave of suicide bombings.
It may have been wrong to assume that suicide bombings would happen more frequently because Israeli security measures for the most part have held strong but with the incitement and hatred continuing new and old tactics that use vehicles and random attacks are growing. Even rock throwing is still a dangerous terror tactic.
My fellow soldiers and I all were just regular guys and girls hoping to go home to their parents and girlfriends/boyfriends, and friends at the end of the week. But we wore our uniforms and were vilified just for that. I hope and I know that there are those Palestinians and Arabs who are just regular guys who want to just be with their parents and girlfriends/boyfriends, and friends but this tells me differently.
Another piece from the paper: On December 5 2002 an interview with one such Palestinian mother went like this “[My second son Naji] became a Shahid(martyr) on March 23, 2002, at the age of 20. Before I made my pilgrimage [to Mecca], he put his hands on my head and said: ‘Be calm, mother, be calm, this is my wish. Pray for me, that I will be a Shahid.’ When I did the circuit [an Islamic pilgrimage ceremony], in Mecca and Medina, I swear to Allah, that I prayed for him… Even in their sleep, they will have nightmares. We will blow them up day and night, wherever they go. And I, as the mother of two Shahids, if I see an Israeli I will blow up among them.”
My Mother prayed for me to be able to return home and be safe. Not to destroy any Arab or Palestinian. I hope and believe that most of my comrades from the military and many who were not in the military were the same.
We believe in true education of life and peace.
Stop with the eduhation and death.