FourThree-year-old Afik Zahavi was murdered today while he was playing at on his way to kindergarten, along with a 49-year-old man who may or may not have been his grandfather. Afik's mother is fighting for her life and several other people were wounded. The murder weapon was a Kassam missile, assembled from parts smuggled through tunnels from Egypt, fired by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip.
But Afik and his family weren't "settlers." They lived in the town of Sderot, inside the Green Line, inside "Israel proper," though of course there is no such thing in the eyes of Hamas as "Israel proper." Thank goodness that after "disengagement," the terrorists in Gaza will be able to devote all of their attention to murdering more little boys like Afik in Sderot and Ashdod and Beersheva without the tempting distraction of Jews living in Netzarim and Kfar Darom and without those mean Israeli soldiers raiding their bomb factories.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sharon pledged today to speed up Israel's retreat from Gaza, amid an ever-expanding stream of threats and invective against any potential resistance from the Jewish communities there. I note that just a few weeks ago, a "political source" was declaring
"There is no plan to dismantle settlements through the use of advance payments," he said. "The payments will not be granted as bribes that will give more to whoever leaves faster."
But today, the story is a little different.
Settlers who ask to leave the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank and relocate to another community before the disengagement plan is implemented can receive a "down payment," on their compensation, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.
On the other hand, here's a lonely settler's argument in favor of getting out of Gaza. Of course, this particular settler lives in "a small village in the Judean Hills," so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. It doesn't, by the way, address the issue of those Kassam missiles.
Note: this post has been subsequently edited for factual accuracy.
