"We're miserable, so we'll try to make you miserable too!"
What they should be doing is pressuring their own government to actually govern Gaza and use the aid they get to improve the lot of the people there instead of building tunnels that get destroy and weapons that will only lead to more death and destruction.
Gazans challenge Israel’s high-tech defenses with flaming kites
by Ruth Eglash June 18 at 6:34 AM Email the author
KIBBUTZ NIR AM, Israel — Ofer Liberman zips out the kibbutz gate in his well-used jeep, frantically calling out to people as he drives. There’s a fire beyond the residential area, in the fields, he tells them. A few minutes later, Liberman pulls his jeep to a halt and watches as a line of angry flames licks the parched shrubs.
The first incendiary kite of the day has landed.
Outfitted with rags dipped in gasoline, smoldering embers, coals and, more recently, lightweight explosive devices, the kites are the latest weapon used by Palestinians against Israelis in their decades-old conflict. Handmade, mostly from household objects, the kites sail over the border from the Gaza Strip, which lies just to the west.
Israelis have dubbed these low-tech weapons “terror kites.” Although the damage has not been huge — a little more than $1 million to date — it has put Israelis on edge. Multiple fires started each day by kites and helium balloons are the focus of nightly news broadcasts. One cabinet minister said soldiers could legitimately shoot kite fliers if they were endangering Israeli lives.
According to the Israeli army, thousands of incendiary kites and balloons have been flown over the border in the past eight weeks. As the number of kites has grown, Israel’s response has intensified. On Monday, warplanes struck two military compounds and a munitions site belonging to Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza. Israeli officials said the action was “in response to arson and explosive kites and balloons that have been launched against Israel.”
continues at washingtonpost.com |
