Israeli towns near Gaza
‘open for attack’

September 22, 2005

The Israeli government is not acting quickly enough to fortify Jewish towns near the Gaza border now in direct Palestinian firing range since the Gaza withdrawal was implemented last month, senior Likud leader Uzi Landau told WND.

Landau, touring peripheral Negev farming communities, said yesterday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal was carried out recklessly, without taking area security into consideration.

“The situation for the people living in the [farms] near the Gaza border is currently intolerable,” said Landau, who previously quit the government in protest of the withdrawal and is challenging Sharon in upcoming Likud primaries

Landau visited Netiv Ha’asar, a Negev community just a stone’s thrown from the Gaza border. He viewed a half-completed security barrier alongside the town, which leaves the neighborhood open to sniper fire, possible terrorist infiltration, and rocket and mortar attacks. In some areas, the constructed sections of the barrier are lower than the Palestinian land located on the other side of the fence.

Farm leaders said, aside from the barrier, they have been demanding the government reinforce roofs of children’s facilities and kindergartens to protect from Qassams.

Several rockets have been fired in the area the past few months. In July, a local woman, 22-year old Dana Galkovitch, was killed when a Qassam landed directly above her.

Landau called on Sharon to “immediately protect these citizens who are threatened now by an armed Palestinian Gaza right at their doorsteps. All of this should have been done before the withdrawal, but even now it’s being done at an inexcusably slow pace.”

As WND reported, the Israeli Defense Forces have been going from school to school in some 40 Negev towns, preparing Jewish children to get used to living under the threat of attack, teaching them about Qassam rockets and terrorist infiltrations.

“We teach them about the threats and how to defend against them. Like reporting suspicious objects and finding shelter from gunfire,” said a spokesman for the IDF’s Home Front Command, which has been leading the education effort.
As part of the lesson, the kids are asked to draw a Qassam rocket and are shown a diagram that explains the makeup and firing qualities of the Palestinian rocket.

The students are told not all Qassam attacks are deadly, the spokesman explained.

“The majority of rockets land in open fields; that’s a statistical fact. Those attacks, if one is inside or not near, won’t kill or physically hurt anyone.”

The children also are given a booklet that asks them to write their feelings about different kinds of attacks and tests their preparedness for specific attacks.

Landau blasted the current tactics: “This is defeatist. We are simply preparing to be attacked, thereby losing the initiative. Israel needs to be sending a clear message that we will exact an immediate and forceful response to even the most minute Palestinian attempt to attack us from Gaza. Instead we are making preparations, in some cases too slowly and not enough. Israel is inviting big trouble.”