Thursday, June 02, 2005

Freedom & The Early Summer

Sitting at Caffit on Emek Refiam last night, I was speaking to two visiting New Zealanders who were in Israel for the first time. We agreed upon how safe it feels (and is) here day-to-day in comparison to what you would believe from CNN and friends. Still we spoke about the other 1% of days that it can all go wrong.

I felt the KIC of that conversation this morning when listening to the radio news on the way to work.

I've been writing about "the difficult summer ahead" for a few weeks now - not only the tense intra-family confrontations during the Disengagement but also the return to the dark days of daily terrorism
In light of the horrific terror plan exposed last night, how wrong was retired Chief of Staff Bogey Yaalon? The double terorist bombing was intended to be carried out today (Thursday) in Ramot (Jerusalem) on a bus and then in a cafe or synagogue?

The summer seems to have arrived early and to our disappointment (if that is a strong enough word!) it appears that terror is ready to come out of semi (I say again, SEMI) retirement for 'Intifada: The Sequel' - sadly coming to an Israeli city near you soon.

All this makes today's release of 398 Palestinian prisoners an extra bit controversial. It was promised at Sharm-a-Sheik and Israel is expressing its desire to stick to its obligations even if Abbas and the PA are not. Ehud Olmert (Deputy PM) has also expressed his belief that we must do what we can in order to progress rather than just convince ourselves that it's not worth doing anything.

I do admire his desire to do 'something'. I imagine something is better than nothing. Still, these are not petty prisoners. This is a serious prisoner release and includes Hamas members and those involved in attempted shootings, murder and the like. Does this give a good, peaceful message or a capitulative message to Palestinians? With freedom comes responsibility. What sort of freedom are they aiming for?

KIC me a comment...

1 comment:

ifyouwillit... said...

When I read this morning's headline about the planned attack, your summer theory immediatly sprang to mind.

Last night, friends and I were also talking about the situation, the post engagement situation, and the fact we all have the feeling it is all about to get worse.

Giving land to an "authority" that seem not too worried about controlling "militants" can only add to our problems and increase their ability and scope to attack.