It was a recent sun-drenched and unseasonably warm winter afternoon in the western Israeli town of Sderot, near the Gaza border.

Driving through town, I first noticed the near empty sidewalks, yards and parks. Almost no children were outside at play, as would normally be expected in this town of more than 19,000 residents with the nearby Mediterranean glistening in the sun. Unfortunately, little-used sidewalks and playgrounds are the norm because of daily Qassam rockets fired from the Palestinian-controlled and Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.

Sderot community activist Eeki Elner explained that the rockets are usually launched in the early morning as parents are readying children for school or actually transporting them.

The Israeli government installed a warning system that gives residents a maximum 15-second alert before a rocket hits. "Many of the families are immigrants and have large families," Elner said. "Even if you are in your own home, it is impossible to gather up several children and get them to a safe place in 10 or 15 seconds. The parents are put in the horrible position of having to decide which kids they are going to shield."

This wasn't the scenario that was envisioned by those on the Israeli left and the Land for Peace movement. Most mistakenly believed that the rocket attacks, which began seven years ago, would cease once the 9,000 Jewish settlers abandoned their homes and Israel withdrew from the occupied Gaza Strip in August 2005. Almost 4,000 rockets later, that hope has evaporated. It is estimated that close to 5,000 people in Sderot have already given up and moved to other parts of Israel.

The plight of Sderot has many others in Israel and around the world questioning the wisdom of returning additional territory if the Palestinians will not even recognize Israel's basic right to exist.

"In Israel I am considered a leftist," said the 44-year-old Elner, who moved from Tel Aviv to Sderot in a show of support to the community. "I am the son of refugees and Holocaust survivors myself who immigrated to Israel from Russia and Austria —- so my heart goes out to the Palestinian refugees. I support their right to independence and having their own nation, but they also need to recognize that we have a right to live here in our own country in peace."

The all too clear statement coming from Hamas and other radical elements in Gaza is very apparent to all who view the situation realistically and not through rose-colored Neville Chamberlain glasses. Appeasement simply has not brought peace in the past, nor will it today in Israel. Until the Palestinians elect and empower a government that truly desires peace and acknowledges Israel's right to exist within secure borders, there should be no additional land-for-peace deals. The citizens of Sderot can testify to the abysmal failure of that policy as the sound of another exploding Qassam shakes the town.

Now, if only the world would take note. United Nations Undersecretary-General of Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes toured Sderot recently after a visit to Gaza. "We condemn absolutely the firing of these rockets," Holmes told The Associated Press. "There's no justification for it. They are indiscriminate; there's no military target."

No argument with that. However, Holmes and others refuse to see that no matter what actions Israel takes, the rockets from Gaza continue to rain down. Because the rockets are purposely and cowardly launched from civilian areas of Gaza, when Israel does rarely strike back, it is almost impossible not to injure or kill civilians.

In the United Nations, Israel is held to a double standard. It is the only nation in the world condemned for defending its internationally recognized borders. Would the U.S. care about world opinion and show restraint if Mexico was firing rockets daily into Brownsville, Texas?

As a gorgeous Mediterranean sunset ended my day, Elner announced he was attending a rare wedding that night in Sderot. "Few weddings are held, because many of the out-of-town guests are afraid," he said. "You need guests and relatives for a wedding."

I drove into the darkness toward Tel Aviv saying to myself, "Guests and relatives, not rockets."

> Tim Williams lives in Douglasville. He recently returned from a weeklong trip to Israel.