A house in Sderot hit by Qassam rocket. Photo: Oren Rosenfeld.

Since the last day of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (January 18, 2009) until the 1st day of Operation Pillar of Defense, The Gaza Hamas regime launched 2,000 aerial attacks against Israel. That was the third ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas.

There is now talk about ‘an opportunity to reach an understanding with Hamas,’ relying on the notion that Israel must ‘give Hamas a chance for a ceasefire with Israel.’ How many people remember that two failed ‘ceasefires’ were reached with The Gaza Hamas regime over the past 6 years? How many people remember what occurred during those ‘ceasefires’? The people of Sderot and the western Negev remember all too well.

Let us refresh our memories. The first ‘ceasefire’ between Hamas and Israel lasted for six months, from November 26, 2006, until May 15, 2007. Here is the statement made by Hamas five days before agreeing to that cease fire: ‘Hamas’s military wing will stop rocket fire when residents evacuate the city of Sderot.’ (from November 21, 2006)

During that ‘cease fire’, The Gaza Hamas regime launched 315 attacks on Sderot and the western Negev. There was no IDF response to those attacks during that “cease fire”.

The second ‘cease fire’ took place from June 19, 2008 (1 year after the Hamas military took control of the Gaza strip) until December 19, 2008, during those six months of “we cease they fire”, the Gaza Hamas regime launched 530 attacks on Israel.

2008 was the most intense year of the decade for the residents of Southern Israel; the entire western Negev region was under constant rocket fire, with approximately 3,200 aerial attacks on Israel.

Three days before the end of 2008, The IDF launched “Operation Cast Lead” to stop the attacks from The Gaza Hamas regime.

One question needs to be asked: What nation in the world would allow for a one-sided ceasefire? What other nation would allow for one missile to explode within its territory, let alone allow an entity to place the majority of its population under the threat of missile attacks?

It is worthy to note that Israel’s adversaries do not advocate a ‘ceasefire’; they promote a hudna. A hudna means no more than a temporary respite in the war between Islamic forces and non-Islamic forces. The authoritative Islamic Encyclopedia (London, 1922) defines hudna as a “temporary treaty” which can be approved or abrogated by Islamic religious leaders, depending on whether or not it serves the interests of Islam; with the proviso that a hudna cannot last for more than 10 years.

What is the alternative?

A demand of unconditional surrender from an enemy bent on Israel’s destruction.

Noam Bedein is a photojournalist, lecturer and founder/director of Sderot Media Center. He lives approximately two miles away from the Gaza-Israel border in the Israeli city of Sderot.