Last weekend, an interview with Maj. Gen. (res.) Tal Russo – the Labor Party's "security and defense" guy – was published in which he supposedly criticized the "whining" by residents of Gaza-adjacent communities. The response led to an apology by Yedioth Ahronoth, the newspaper that ran the interview, and a clarification that stated that Russo had never actually made the remarks attributed to him.
But the very discussion about the "whining" by residents of the Gaza periphery reveals a deep lack of understanding about the role of Jewish settlement on the country's borders. Residents of the communities near the Gaza Strip aren't hapless victims of terrorism who burden the defense establishment, but rather the civil front that protects the country's southwest border. The question isn't how much the people near Gaza suffer or what the defense establishment is doing to ease that suffering, but rather how we should defend our border with Gaza. The communities just east of Gaza take a daily part in the country's battle to protect its sovereignty and security. They are the front that protects the center of the country. Remember the days of Operation Protective Edge. The residents of the Galilee communities along the border with Lebanon are Israel's northern line of defense and they are facing the threat of Hezbollah's attack tunnels. The residents of the Jordan Valley, Judea and Samaria do the same on Israel's eastern border. It could be that the daily struggles of the border settlements and communities aren't heard a few dozen kilometers away from central Israel. It's easy to forget what the residents constantly have to deal with and take the relative quiet for granted.
But the security of the nation rests on settlement, on human communities that implement our borders, and have since the days of the "wall and tower" operations. The Zionist choice to protect borders through settlement is an inseparable part of Israel's defense and security creed.
The residents of the communities near Gaza aren't whiners. They explain and describe the challenges of life on the border. Their day-to-day reality exposes an uncomfortable truth about the country's security situation, and it's sometimes easier to dismiss their claims as "whining." But Israel should salute them, and be willing to listen about the challenges of their life.
Other than the distress of the residents of Gaza-adjacent communities, border communities in general are the subject of systemic neglect. The rural settlements on the country's northern, southern, and eastern borders are seen more as a problem and less as a national challenge, with the settlers forming the vanguard.
Strengthening border communities is a national mission: through tourism (the south is red with anemones, and the Galilee and Jordan Valley have never been greener); through agriculture (more hands are always needed); and through the economy (settlement businesses). Brave people have a chance to implement Zionism in the 21st century by joining settlement communities.
