Close Quarters

I received an interesting lesson in geography from the BBC today. Though I was well aware of this fact, it's still hard to fathom. The distances that separate Israel and Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Egypt are miniscule; at most a couple of hundred kilometres. For a Canadian, used to vast territorial contiguity and only one neighbour this is amazing. North Americans know a lot about distance. In the Middle East an intimacy of proximity exists between Israel and its neighbours. Now I can understand some of the Israeli national preoccupation with the closeness of their neighbours and security. They are practically on top of them.

So these rocket attacks are very sudden and are delivered pretty much without warning. It's hard for even mighty Israel to defend against that. See the map below for the distances that Hizbullah rockets can reach:


To put these distances in context. From Hamilton a Katyusha could reach Oakville. The Fajr-3 could reach Mississauga and the Fajr-5 most of western Toronto. Imagine if rockets were being fired across Lake Ontario every now and then and you'll get a small feeling for what the Israelis are going through. I'd be scared too.

These distances make one wonder if military protection is really delivering what Israelis were promised. For all the billions that Israel has spent on arms, its citizens really aren't safe. The realists inside Israel have made their choice but for an idealist like me it seems that real security comes with hard won friendship and empathy. But it's hard to build when you're destroying villages from 30,000 feet.

(source of image: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5184974.stm#rocket)