SELICHOT

This week of SELICHOT the news is all a-buzz about the daring Israeli Airforce, which bombed nuclear facilities in Syria on September 6, one week before 9/11. This was smart timing: hit the terrorists before the 9/11 anniversary date, and making clear that all versions of Islamic Terror ultimately mean the same thing to ISRAEL and to the civilized world. This is the kind of action that necessarily puts the world on alert.

The obviously justifiable action, both in terms of preventive action against SYRIA and in terms of sending a "message" to IRAN [and to KOREA, the nuclear supplier], is the kind of action that puts SYRIA in a position of needing to make some kind of face-saving response. As well, the entire MUSLIM world, SUNNI and SHIITE, can be expected to be grumbling, cursing, and planning against ISRAEL.

To those, who live in a media dreamworld, ISRAEL was on the brink of peace with the PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. How will this excursion of the Israeli Airforce impact this dreamworld? What will CONDOLEEZA RICE be saying at the SUMMIT? To those, who pay attention to the facts on the ground, ISRAEL is always on the brink of war in every direction, outwardly and inwardly, the "canary in the coal mine" in the defensive war against Islamic Terror.

In this never ending war there are at least three Israelis still captive for more than a year: Gilad Shalit, captive and alone in GAZA; Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captive in Lebanon. In SELICHA 81, line LAMED, the author says, "HASHEM - kidnap me from the captivity of my oppressors...." May HASHEM hear these words and save alive and bring home these three young Israeli men, speedily, soon, even in time to break the hearts of ISRAEL with tears of joy before YOM KIPPUR.

THE WEEK BEFORE YOM KIPPUR 5768

In this week before YOM KIPPUR we remember that in the previous week leading into ROSH HASHANNAH the big news stories in ISRAEL did not include the release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser; nor was there a cessation to the QASSAM rockets hitting SDEROT and other locations in the NEGEV. In fact there were 67 new Israeli army recruits wounded by such a QASSAM attack hitting an Israeli military base (first reports were that 40 were injured). But also in that week an important senior HAMAS official was captured by ISRAEL; a gang of Israeli NEO-NAZI's was exposed and captured (if awards were given for oxymoronic realities, surely "Israeli neo-nazi's" would win that award); and SYRIA was hit by the Israeli Airforce, as ISRAEL took out a Syrian nuclear installation. It is good to see that ISRAEL is not doing nothing. As we prepare to Fast this coming YOM KIPPUR SHABBATH, let us hope that this is the week that the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers will miraculously be returned safely home to ISRAEL.

EREV ROSH HASHANNAH AND 9/11 IN THE U.S.A. AND IN ISRAEL

It is EREV ROSH HASHANNAH. The day leading into EREV ROSH HASHANNAH was 9/11. We commemorated the terrible destruction in 2001 of lives on this infamous day due to terrorism. In ISRAEL on 9/11/2007, as we commemorated 9/11/2001, forty new recruits to the IDF were wounded by QASSAM rockets launched jointly by ISLAMIC JIHAD and at least one other terrorist group. It is reported that there is a buildup of weaponry in GAZA supplied to the terrorists by IRAN through EGYPT, a weapons buildup the likes of which has not been seen before. It looks as though the new year will bring war to ISRAEL. This buildup of weapons amongst the terrorists should ring bells throughout the world, that the daily "relatively harmless" terror of QASSAM rockets launched at SDEROT from GAZA has not been "merely an irritant" nor an indicator of pathetic weakness of both mind and technology in GAZA. The QASSAM rockets are a strategy, saying to ISRAEL, "Sooner or later, we are going to get you...." HAMAS is quoted to have said about this 9/11/2007 wounding of forty young ISRAELI's, "This is a wonderful thing that ALLAH has done this day." [This "quote" is a paraphrase of a news report heard 9/11 on the CBN News.]

At this moment, GILAD SHALIT is sitting in a tiny basement cell in an undisclosed location in GAZA, prisoner for more than a year to these same terrorists.... if he is still in fact even alive... and in what condition is he? And EHUD GOLDWASSER and ELDAD REGEV are in the hands of HEZBOLLAH still in LEBANON or SYRIA or even in IRAN perhaps?

May HASHEM have mercy on us all this New Year....

BLOW THE SHOFAR SOFTLY...?

In eight days it will be ROSH HASHANNAH and our three soldiers are not home, nor has the rocketing of SDEROT come to an end; if anything, as ROSH HASHANNAH approaches, there has been a slow, steady crescendo of more rockets into ISRAEL. Just yesterday a SDEROT schoolyard was directly hit, and today the children will be kept home from school. What does it take for ISRAEL to perceive that it has been subjected to an act of war - again, and again, and again, and again!

Of course it can also be said that there has been a stady crescendo of Israeli action in GAZA....

In the past week HAMAS stated that negotiations to free Gilad Shalit broke down due to ISRAEL's failure to release 350 HAMAS prisoners from ISRAELI jails. ISRAEL responded that many of the 350 on the HAMAS list were guilty of direct, terrible violence against ISRAEL. Let us analyze the salient details:

(1) HAMAS could have freed Gilad Shalit unconditionally and thus made either (a) a profound symbolic statement of good will towards ISRAEL, or, (b) an humanitarian gesture towards ISRAEL [while continuing to ask the world for humanitarian gestures favoring GAZA].

HAMAS failed on both accounts.

(2) Israel could have unilaterally released 350 HAMAS prisoners to GAZA to match the 350 EL FATAH prisoners that ISRAEL released to SAMARIA/JUDEA, and in so doing, could have chosen to release to HAMAS only the least murderous; ISRAEL could have done so, thereby making a profound gesture of good will towards HAMAS [upon the announcement by HAMAS seeking to arrange for Gilad Shalit's release in the same way British journalist Alan Johnston was released].

ISRAEL did not and therefore failed as well on both possible accounts of simple good will and simple humanitarianism.

Now both HAMAS and ISRAEL can go on blaming each other!!

Or, perhaps in the mirroring of each other, HAMAS and ISRAEL can perceive the potential for positive communication!!

On ROSH HASHANNAH all ISRAEL should loudly blow the SHOFAR. There are eight days yet, till then. Much can happen.... Does ISRAEL have a reason to blow SHOFAR this year? There are four reasons ISRAEL should perhaps blow softly or not at all: SDEROT, GILAD SHALIT, EHUD GOLDWASSER, and ELDAD REGEV. On the other hand if ISRAEL resolves to do what is good to justify blowing the SHOFAR, then let ISRAEL blow loudly, and seal it's intentions on YOM KIPPUR!!

SHAKEN, BUT, NOT FORSAKEN (one hopes and prays)....

On this ninth day of ELUL the SHOFAR will sound briefly at SHACHARITH, reminding us that ROSH HASHANNAH is only three weeks away, even as it is three weeks since my last posting to this site. This three-week posting-lag has in common that there has been virtually nothing in the news about Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, or Eldad Regev. The world races quickly towards the starting gate of ROSH HASHANNAH. Have our three soldiers been forgotten and left behind? Within the past forty-eight hours a school in SDEROT suffered a direct hit from a QASSAM rocket only two weeks before school starts. No one was hurt, fortunately, this time. In the past three weeks these QASSAM gifts from GAZA have steadily "arrived", shall we say "airway, parcel-post delivery"? This, despite IDF activities in GAZA. With each QASSAM do we think of our three missing soldiers? Are not these two matters -- our three missing soldiers, and the rockets hitting especially Sderot -- are not these two matters ONE, as are the leg and the roof/leg creating the letter BETH ??

HAS ANYBODY SEEN OUR THREE MISSING SOLDIERS?

We enter Shabbath once again without Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser. We have heard nothing this week of Gilad Shalit. Of Eldad and Ehud, we have heard from an anonymous German that one might be alive and one might be dead. Nasrallah of Hebollah has communicated his extortion demands to the French and advised the French to reveal no details. The Israeli government is bargaining to give away much of Israel; meanwhile an apartment complex for housing Holy Jews is bankrupt and Jews are are suing eachother. Israel and Egypt and Saudi Arabia are to be recipients of huge increases in military assistance from the USA, including what amounts to a new air force for Saudi Arabia. Shimon Peres, Tony Blair, Condoleeza Rice, and Tzipi Livni have huge smiles on their faces. All of these billions of dollars for blood! What about our three missing soldiers....

SET THEM FREE!

As I write this Sunday night, it is already early Monday morning in Israel, Shacharit Tu B'Av. Tu B'Av is defined to be a day of love and joy. Where are Eldad, Gilad, and Ehud? Set them Free! If you love HaShem, if you love HaShem, if you love HaShem...
Set them Free!

SEEKING AN ACT OF KINDNESS ON TISHA B'AV

In the past two weeks we have heard about everyone and everything except Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev.

We have heard about the Israeli incursion into Gaza....
We have heard about Qassam rockets again hitting Sderot these past few days....
We have heard that Hezbollah is ready to take on Israel at any time....
We have heard that the UN forces in southern Lebanon would fire on Israel to "stop a war"....
We have heard of the release of 256 FATAH members, gifts to Abu Mazen (a.k.a. Mahmud Abbas)....
We have heard about sexual scandals and financial scandals in Israel's Government....
We have heard emphatically that Olmert will not leave Government....
We have heard that now is the time to negotiate "peace" with FATAH, and with Syria, too (ergo, it is time to surrender Golan, Samaria, Judea, and East Jerusalem)....
We have heard about the attempted theft of Ismail Haniyeh's shoes during prayer in a Mosque....
We have heard Israel spurn overtures from Ismail Haniyeh of HAMAS....
We have heard about Tony Blair's arrival in Israel, intending to operate from the Government House (from which the British ruled 'Palestine' before WW2)....

MAY TONY BLAIR BE ENLIGHTENED to seek more suitable quarters than Government House or the King David Hotel, neither of which recall wonderful memories of British Occupation. If a message of "occupation" is what Tony Blair has in mind (implying that just as Israel hates occupation, so do the 'Palestinians'), then it is at best an oblique message and at worst it is an insinuating, insulting way of pushing a highly loaded, controversial agenda and viewpoint (which agenda and viewpoint lack controversy only to those, who hold to that particular bias, which Mr. Blair is presumably in Israel to represent).

MR. BLAIR, when on July 25 the SUMMIT commences, place one and only one item on the agenda - that Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be released from their nightmare of captivity!

MR. ISMAIL HANIYEH, I offer myself in place of Gilad Shalit, that Gilad Shalit be returned home to his mother and father....

MAY THE ONE GOD BLESS AND INSPIRE ISMAIL HANIYEH to a simple and great act of kindness, as we of Israel enter the Fast of Tisha B'Av, and release Gilad Shalit (and even inspire Nasrallah of Hezbollah to release Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser).

MAY GOD HAVE MERCY on Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, and on all Benei Ismail and Benei Itzak.

*****************************************************

07/24/07 - ADDENDUM TO ABOVE POST

Today is Tisha B'Av. In Israel Tisha B'Av is already almost concluded as I write. In the USA there is much of the day yet to go. Those are fasting, who can, and who in addition to the Beth HaMikdash, have the names Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser in mind.

May the captors of these men immediately show at least the great mercy of proof beyond doubt that all three men are alive and well and that their imminent freedom is not even a question! May there be peace and not war, even for one day!

May this day conclude with happy miraculous news!

SUMMIT

Moving into this Shabbath there is good and not-so-good to consider with respect to developments in Israel on so many fronts. It is important to remember that Israel is surrounded and has so many elements to consider in all directions. In the north the situation is tense, yet, said to be stable. In the east FATAH is hugely deflated by it's loss of power to HAMAS in Gaza. A landmark Israel/ArabLeague summit in Israel may bolster FATAH. HAMAS is engaged in talks with Israel, and one hopes [per HAMAS initiation] those talks will lead to the release of Gilad Shalit. Yet, due to efforts to root out terrorists in Gaza, especially against those launching Qassam rockets into Israel, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is necessarily engaged in Gaza. To quote a popular and appropriate metaphor, "It is some "chullent"...."

(Perhaps during the Three Weeks a special chullent recipe might include chunks of leftover matzah-shmurah, maror, karpas, no salt, no pepper....)

Just as stress tends to create a behavior cycle of overeating, just as trying to serve too much all at once can only lead to an indigestible menu, the agenda at the Summit ought to be narrow, and the narrower the better.

This is the time for small, but, non-trivial victories of good will - the release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, the cessation of Qassam rockets into Israel from Gaza, the release of un-bloodied 'Palestinians' to their families.

Discussions beyond these timely and focused affairs can only serve to create an overly heavy agenda in which nothing but "schinat-chinom" [ill will, needless hatred] is the inevitable result. As hosts to the Summit, Israel sets the "table". Israel can set that table to focus on these few acts of profound kindness, acts which can make the difference between hope and despair for everyone in the region. (May peace come speedily in our times.)

MAY HASHEM GUIDE ISRAEL BETWEEN THE 'STRAITS' IN THESE THREE WEEKS....

As the week begins and as the release of 250 prisoners to FATAH is on the Israeli decision table, now is a time to extend good will northwards and southwards, as well as eastwards. The intent to release 250 un-bloodied prisoners eastwards to FATAH was in the air prior to the HAMAS takeover of Gaza and and the speedy release of Alan Johnston.

Simultaneous to the release of Mr. Johnston, HAMAS spokesman Ismael Haniyeh stated his hopes that a deal with Israel leading to the release of Gilad Shalit could become a reality soon (see the BBC news story "Alan Johnston is Released". July 4, 2007).

While keeping in mind the negative remarks about Israel by Syrian HAMAS leader Khaled Mashaal in British Newspaper THE GUARDIAN (as reported in the Jerusalem Post story "Hamas takes credit for Alan Johnston's release", July 8, 2007), one must ask, "Is it Khaled Mashaal, or is it Ismail Haniyeh, who has his hand on the HAMAS pulse in Gaza?"

An opportunity in real time may exist with Ismail Haniyeh, that may not exist with other HAMAS leadership. Ismail Haniyeh was prominent in the release of Alan Johnston, and it is likely that he would be prominent in any release of Gilad Shalit. Israel should waste neither time nor opportunity to speak to Ismail Haniyeh, to arrange for the release of Gilad Shalit, as well as to arrange a conduit (even through HAMAS) to arrange with HEZBOLLAH for the release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

If it means that Israel releases 250 un-bloodied prisoners to FATAH, as was already in the air, as a pure gift to Mahmoud Abbas; if it means that Israel release an additional 250 un-bloodied prisoners to HAMAS (or some type of equivalent) and an additional 500 un-bloodied prisoners to HEZBOLLAH (or the equivalent); now is the time for Israel to carefully consider every open window for opportunities to see to the safe return of the three Israeli soldiers. Neither can the good will that Israel can extend to the 'Palestinians' be underestimated at this time.

Yet, Israel is not and cannot be naive; an open window can easily be slammed shut on a careless, unprotected, outstretched neck! Nor can Israel allow itself to be distracted from it's exercises in the Golan or it's anti-Qassam work in Gaza. May HaShem guide Israel between the 'Straits' in these Three Weeks....

GREATEST HOPE FOR PEACE MAY BE WITH HAMAS

The greatest hope for peace in Israel and indeed in the Middle East may in fact depend on the example and precedent that HAMAS now has the opportunity to establish. Indeed HAMAS has already established a precedent and set an example by freeing BBC Reporter Alan Johnston. If this leads as hoped to the freeing of Gilad Shalit, 'Palestinian' prisoners, and perhaps even to the freeing of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev by HEZBOLLAH; if as well the launching of Qassam rockets are stopped from within Gaza by HAMAS; then fertile ground should exist for a real peace deal with Israel.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A REAL PEACE DEAL?

Rather than lauding the lowest common denominator, which would be nothing more than a sustained state of ceasefire, there is an optimal possibility that can have profound influence worldwide in terms of relations between the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian worlds.

As a Jew, this writer is accutely aware of his "second class" status in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. In the Christian world the Jew is ambivalently regarded as having lost the favor of the Lord, as responsible for the Death of the Messiah, and is paradoxically to be scurged in exile and yet to be coddled as His Chosen People; and so there is the ignominious history of Jewish ghetto life, which still exists in loose form in today's world, even where the majority of Jews were annihilated during World War 2 and in Soviet Russia. In the Muslim world the Jew is classified as "Dhimmi" - as indeed also is the Christian - the taxed and oppressed second class in the world of Islam (see the adjacent LINK).

It is highly symbolic, according to social and political interpretation, that the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is located high above any synagogue or church. By Dhimmi Law no synagogue or church may be larger or higher or more impressive than the nearest mosque or most mosques in the same town. Denied statehood and the right to own land for millenia, only in the last sixty years has Israel re-established itelf in it's own homeland as a Jewish political (and in this era, democratic) State. So Christians and Moslems in today's democratic Israel have equal status, at least in the sense that there is no law defining the Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel as "second class", nor are there any laws of the modern State requiring the destruction or modification of the churches and mosques to be "lesser" than the synagogues.

After millenia of subjugation, Israel has not subjugated Muslim or Christian, although by psychological projection based on the Hammurabi interpretation of the "eye for an eye" biblical injunction, the Muslim may (incorrectly) only think in the literal interpretation, contemplating destruction to be their "inevitable" destiny under Israeli hegemony. Hence again Muslim devotion to the destruction of Israel, even amongst the 1.2-million strong Muslim citizenry of Israel proper, who vote in Israeli elections, yet celebrate "Al Naqba" (The Catastrophe [of the existence of a Jewish State]).

Yet, herein lies the fulcrum of hope for peace in the Middle East, as the conflict is essentially a Jewish v. Muslim conflict: if the religious definition of the Jew as Dhimmi, only and always, can be surmounted, even as the Catholic Church (officialy) no longer holds Jews and Judaism damnable for the "Messiah's Death", that is to say: if as a matter of doctrine, Muslims can accept Jews (and Christians) as equals and not as definitively subservient, then an entirely new mentality can exist in the world between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Jews and Christians, vastly outnumbered in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia, could look upon the Dome of the Rock and not feel oppressed; and Muslims should no longer feel irrationally threatened that at any moment the Dome of the Rock will inevitably be blown up. Indeed Israel has permitted expansion of the Islamic religious facilities on the Temple Mount (a new and larger subterranean mosque is being constructed as we speak under the Al Aqsa mosque, which is the second mosque on the Temple Mount), and at great and unintended cost to Jewish arhaeological heritage (yes, there is a deliberate and conscious and active effort to destroy as much Jewish archaelogical heritage by the Muslims as possible in order to deny Jewish rights and claims to the Temple Mount).

If HAMMAS, which is a Muslim organization, can find a way to establish that Jews need not eternally be regarded as definitively subservient and definitively undeserving, if HAMMAS can find it's way on such a basis to accept the existential right of a Jewish State, if HAMMAS can accept the existing State of Israel today, then a peace precedent can ripple profoundly throughout the Muslim world, and terrorism take a holiday.

IDF, HAMAS, BUFFER ZONE, PRISONERS, QASSAMS

On the heels of the still fresh release of BBC Reporter Alan Johnston from captivity in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are busy at the work of establishing a one-kilometre buffer zone in northern Gaza, which (hopefully) means the re-establishment of a small portion of the one-kilometre "Oslo Security Perimeter". This may be much better than the 300-metre buffer zone of military speculation, spoken of earlier in the week, unless it should be merely a tiny strip one-kilometre in length and 300-metres deep; but, is it enough of a buffer zone to put the Qassam rockets out of range of Israel?

One hopes that simultaneous to this necessary Israeli action in northern Gaza, it will still be possible for Israel to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. HAMAS has spoken to the world, that it hopes to succeed the release of Alan Johnston by releasing Gilad Shalit in a deal with Israel. One hopes as well that HAMAS will dramatically reverse it's policy of denial of the right of Israel to exist. The existential right of Gilad Shalit and the existential right of Israel and one and the same. If there is a window of opportunity to have a sincere bargaining partner in HAMAS, Israel should seize that opportunity and run with it.

Precedent and policy go against HAMAS as a possible partner. Yet, we are in the season of potential for the birth of MASHIACH. Let us be sensitive to the spiritual possibility of TESHUVAH, even from HAMAS. (Not blind, not stupid - just, if there is a sea-change in HAMAS's air, may Israel remain open to the possibility.)

JULY 4, 2007: INDEPENDENCE DAY IN THE U.S.A., RELEASE OF B.B.C. REPORTER ALAN JOHNSTON FROM CAPTIVITY IN GAZA, CONTINUED CAPTIVITY OF ISRAELI SOLDIER

... GILAD SHALIT IN GAZA, CONTINUED CAPTIVITY OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS ELDAD REGEV AND EHUD GOLDWASSER IN LEBANON, TENTATIVE OFFER LAST WEEK BY ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT TO RELEASE 250 'PALESTINIAN' PRISONERS, PUBLIC STATEMENT BY HAMAS THAT THE RELEASE OF ALAN JOHNSTON FROM CAPTIVITY SHOULD LEAD TO PRISONER EXCHANGES WITH ISRAEL....

"Mr. Haniya... said he hoped a deal could now be reached for the release of the Israeli Corporal, Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since being seized in a border raid by three militant groups a year ago." (quoting: BBC News / Middle East / BBC's Alan Johnston is released / July 4, 2007)

After 114 days in captivity in Gaza by the Dughmush Clan, BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was released from his ordeal by the intervention of HAMAS, the jihadist terrorist organization, which in just this past weak has taken control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority after a prolonged skirmish between HAMAS and FATAH, FATAH being the predominant terrorist wing of the Palestinian Authority.

Is it accidental, that Alan Johnston's release was accomplished on July 4, which is Independence Day in the USA? None of the news stories I have yet read or heard has reported of any direct connection with respect to the timing of the release of Alan Johnston and the simultaneous annual celebration of July 4th in the USA. It can be lost on no American that today on July 4, 2007, British BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was granted his freedom from captivity [ergo, his "... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." (see the American "Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776")].

Is this timing coincidental? If it was deliberate, was it a pure message or a double edged sword? America won it's freedom from Britain, so in the return to safety of Brittisher Alan Johnston, is Hamas seeking to divide the USA from Britain, or to reach out in a positive way to both Britain and the USA?

Without getting carried away with such speculation, let's take at face value this positive gift of life, even by Hamas! And let's also take at face value the positive statement of HAMAS Spokesman Ismael Haniya, quoted above, saying he hoped a deal can now lead to the release of Israeli Gilad Shalit. As well, given the dispute between HAMAS and FATAH, that lead to the current forceful assumption of power in Gaza by HAMAS, and which in February meant the resignation of Ismael Haniya from his elected position as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, let no disrespect be read into the fact that I refer herein to Mr. Haniya as "HAMAS Spokesman". May Mr. Haniya's word's ascend to Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston shall also lead to the release of Gilad Shalit! As well, may Alan Johnston's life and liberty also lead to life and liberty for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who are currently held captive by HEZBOLLAH in Lebanon. There is still a common Syrian connection between HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH. It is not illogical to suppose that this Syrian connection can bring about the release of the Israeli captives.

Of course Israel must be wary of this Syrian connection. There is much talk lately of a deal with Syria involving the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Can Israel afford such as strategic loss of territory to Syria, even if Syria does finally recognize Israel?

In keeping with the original call in my first posting to this blog for " ... Peace and Rest to the Town of Sderot ..." [from the incessant onslaught of Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza], may it also be heard in Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston from his captivity shall lead to the similar release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, as many 'Palestinian' captives in Israel as are deserving to be released, and the unconditional and absolute cessation of the aerial Qassam rocket bombardment of Israel by Gaza!

AND, HAVING COMMEMORATED THIS JULY 4TH, LET THE WORLD REMEMBER THAT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD STILL HAS IT'S HOME IN THE U.S.A., EVEN AS THE BEST MEN AND WOMEN OF LADY LIBERTY ARE POSTED AROUND THE WORLD, AT RISK TO LIFE AND LIMB IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM, EVERYWHERE! "OH, SAY... [WORLD] CAN YOU SEE ??"

A BUFFER ZONE CAN BRING PEACE TO SDEROT

One kilometre east of the northeastern corner of Gaza is the Israeli town of Sderot. Sderot has always been a risky location. The daily barrage of Qassam rockets that Sderot suffers today began long before the unilateral Israeli "disengagement" from Gaza. Israel's ignominious withdrawl from Gaza, far from bringing peace to Israel, has caused far more suffering for Israelis and for non-Israelis. Certainly the withdrawl has made it much easier for Qassams to be launched over the border into Israel.

Adjacent to this post is a link to a wonderful map of Gaza and neighboring Israel. A look via this link shows the pre-existing and inadequate one-kilometre "Oslo Security Perimeter". One can see the outline of the beautiful farms that Israel created in the desert just beyond Gaza.

There are two photos I may at another time succeed in making available by link or post; for the moment I will do my best to describe them. First, imagine a green-colored Qassam rocket stuck nose first into a cratered Sderot street; with it's finned tail sticking up, it calls to mind a potted plant! Second, imagine a long, low pile of spent Qassam rocket shells, piled up like firewood against someone's wall.... The crater in the street may seem like a flowerpot and the green missle almost like a small tree due to the color and fins. But, it is not any kind of tree, nor flower, nor potted plant of any kind. And the spent shells lined up against a wall are not firewood....

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year the residents of Sderot have no peace and no rest. Israel has it within it's power to make peace and rest possible for Sderot. It is quite simple: create a six-kilometre buffer zone in the northeastern corner of Gaza! Any peace gesture from Israel is taken to be an encouragement to wage war even harder with Israel. So Israel is within it's rights to defend itself. The most simple and obvious defense is to require the residents of northeastern Gaza to relocate southward for failing to prevent various terror groups from launching missles and raids into Israel. Israel can then enforce the buffer zone without harming innocent civilians.

I look forward to reading your e-mails regarding this simple idea, and I intend within these three weeks to establish proper protocols to establish this Foundation as a way to fund a lobby in Israel to work towards implementation of a buffer zone as a matter of policy.