Today, five people were killed in Acre, and three from the Arab village of Tarshiha
What about the missiles?
Ha'aretz Editorial
August 3, 2006
The end of the 48-hour hiatus in the war in Lebanon during which Israel reduced its aerial attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah eased up its rocket fire on the Galilee ended yesterday with more blood, destruction and fear across the north. A record number of Katyusha rockets were launched at the Galilee yesterday; one civilian was killed at Kibbutz Sa'ar, 13 others were wounded. Hezbollah's renewed attacks came a day after the prime minister's speech at the National Security College in which he boasted of the war's achievements so far. "Israel is succeeding in this war and is making unparalleled, perhaps unprecedented, achievements," Ehud Olmert said.
Sources close to the prime minister listed the achievements - a significant weakening of Hezbollah both as an internal Lebanese power and a militant offshoot of Iran; the continued cleansing of the border of Hezbollah's presence; open support of the United States and the quieter support of several other states - including Arab ones - in Israel's struggle against Hezbollah; and the strengthening of Israel's deterrence against future missile threats. But what about the missile volleys being fired now? Even if all the achievements on the list stand the test of time, they cannot cover up the Israel Defense Forces' failure, after three weeks of fighting, to put an end to, or at least reduce, the intense fire on Israel. "Every additional day erodes the strength of this cruel enemy," Olmert said. But in reality, there is not enough cover for his statements - not at present anyway. This gap between the prime minister's statements and yesterday's events raises questions. Even if Olmert wanted to raise the nation's spirit by speaking of achievements, this cannot be done without a factual basis. Olmert cannot ignore the reality of the blood on the ground. His statements, suggesting that one of the war's achievements is that Nasrallah will no longer want to fire missiles at Israel, shatter under the test of reality. Hezbollah is continuing to fire almost to its heart's content. It is no longer possible to make do with lofty talk about achievements while Hezbollah is proving that nothing deters it from continuing its attacks on Israel. One of the war's main goals was to prevent missile fire on Israel. This goal has yet to be achieved. This must be said honestly. The Israeli public, especially the one bearing the main brunt of this war, is entitled to receive a more realistic account of the war's achievements so far. The home front, whose fortitude politicians and officers praise so much, is entitled to know which war objectives have been attained, which are still to be attained, and which perhaps will not be attained at all. Hence, this is the time to tell the people the truth, and the prime minister and the rest of the government's spokespersons would do well to spare the public their empty talk of "unprecedented achievements" as Katyusha rockets land all over the Galilee.
