The sun rose with brilliant hues of orange and red over the plains of Moab, but no one was walking through the desert dust at sunrise to witness its beauty. This same sun brought rays of warmth and a sense of tranquility to many tourists who rose before dawn to capture this timely photograph, immortalizing their trip to the Holy Land. This morning’s sunrise, however, was far from tranquil as it touched the rooftops of the Sajaieh neighborhood in the West Bank of Israel. The orange and red rays eerily bathed the fatigue-green uniform colors of the hundred or more Israeli soldiers who were quickly yet quietly approaching this small West Bank neighborhood. Only the occasional sounds of a dog’s bark or a child’s cry could be heard breaking the silence. The past week had been one of the bloodiest since Israeli-Palestinian fighting had begun. About seventeen Israelis and nearly fifty-five Palestinians had been killed in fighting that appeared to be escalating rather than calming. Just two days ago, Israeli troops fired missiles, tank shells, and machine guns at Palestinian Authority positions in reprisals for a Palestinian ambush that took the lives of seven Israeli soldiers—one of whom was a top-ranking colonel. It was announced the very next day that Israel would begin focusing on small-scale counter- guerrilla, counter-terrorist operations. It was obvious that the PLO terrorists were also focusing on a new strategy. They were attacking military checkpoints within the West Bank and Gaza, rather than infiltrating the borders of Israeli territory where the army outposts were heavily manned and protected. Their cry of “Get out of Gaza!” was now being announced in the smoke of surprise attacks that would soon bring the United Nations Security Counsel to an emergency session. This morning’s raid was an answer to the previous night’s attack by the PLO on the Israeli checkpoint near the village of Ein Arik, west of Ram Allah. Every soldier was killed or critically wounded. Perhaps that was why only the top snipers and counter- terrorist teams from various operational groups were hand-selected for this particular raid—or Israeli reprisals, depending upon which side you were on. There was a house that Intel had scoped for the past week and was convinced it was a PLO storehouse for guns and munitions. Quick investigation had it that there was one family living there, but there were several suspicious visitors at all hours of the day and night. They chose the timing of the raid to avoid there being a child inside the house who they knew was the subject’s daughter. She had spent the prior day at a friend’s home and was given permission to stay overnight since her friend lived less than a block from the schoolhouse they attended. The girls were just five years old. At the appropriate light after sunrise, a warning was given over a bullhorn for the occupants to come out of the house and surrender to authorities. Within minutes, the Israeli officer received his answer as a rocket was fired at the lead tank in the line of armored vehicles. It exploded like a tinderbox, spewing shrapnel in every direction. It was a fraction of a second, a blink of an eye, catching everyone off guard. An immediate command to “commence fire” resulted in thousands of bullets penetrating the paper-thin, clay walls of the small house. A second explosion resulted after the bullets penetrated a munitions storeroom within the house, and a torrent of debris fell everywhere out of the raging flames that shot into the air. There must have been incendiary devices within the storeroom, as it resembled a scene from the fires of hell. |
Blood & Destiny |