Visit to Sderot
This is a letter describing a trip to Sderot from our local Conservative Shool in Netanya by my good friend and correspondent Walter Harris.
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We went with a busload of folks from our synagogue on Jan 30 to Sderot to show our support and spend some money to give a little help to their economy. The experience was both moving and enlightening.
Our first stop was Kibbutz Nir Am which is located between Gaza and Sderot. We went to the fence separting the kibbutz from Palestinian territory less than a half mile from Gaza City. Many of the kassam rockets fired from Gaza fall short of their target in Sderot and land in the kibbutz. 80 families live in the kibbutz and we were told that all of the children are under psychological care. When a kassam is fired, an alarm sounds (called the red alert or seva adom) and they have 17 seconds to get shelter. There are no real shelters available so they try to find the most secure area they can. Along the road they have built small concrete shelters that look like an open 3 sided box about 3 feet high. They run to the shelter and crouch until the siren sounds all clear. Most of the families would like to leave but they can't afford to because no one wants to buy their homes or the businesses they have set up there. They earn their money mostly by agriculture but this has been a drought year and then the sudden unusual cold winter has hurt their crops. A factory produces cutlery and steel pots and pans and such and that is doing well because they sell to the army and commercial establishments but even then they can't sell the factory and the workers are scared of the kassams. No one has been killed as of this writing at this kibbutz and physical damage has been minimal but the psychological damage is extensive. The feeling is that the Gov't of Israel is not helping them. They can pinpoint the rocket fire and can respond with rockets of their own of much higher technical proficiency than any the Hamas have been firing but they are not allowed to do so. Why? The terrorists fire from congested areas such as behind a school or mosque and Israeli fire would probably kill many civilians subjecting Israel to condemnation for its response being disproportionate and collective punishment. The Israeli army used to respond to these kassam attacks by firing on empty fields and when they then started killing terrorists through air strikes and targeted assassinations these actions brought on more world condemnation. So what is Israel supposed to do in a war against an enemy pledged to its destruction? The world says that Israel is required to issue moral condemnations and to supply the enemy with free and open access to Israel and Egypt, to Israeli hospitals, food, oil, water, electricty and whatever the Gazans need. Imagine during WWII that the Allies were required to allow free shippping to German ships and supplied the Germans with all the supplies they wanted. No, you can't imagine that.
We then went to Sderot and were met by the deputy mayor. He told us of the experiences the people of Sderot were going through with kassams being fired almost daily and showed us homes that were damaged as a result. He took us to the main police station where kassam rocket fragments were stored, each marked by date and location of it's landing. After this, we went shopping to do a little to help the economy of Sderot. Of course it won't do much but the people at Kibbutz Nir Am and Sderot appreciated our coming and showing support. They told us that many people are afraid to come there. Actually, though we hadn't planned it, the weather was terrible and rockets are not generally fired during such bad weather so we were perfectly safe - wet but safe.
We have friends living in Ashkelon, only about 8-10 miles from Gaza, whose son attends Sapir college in Sderot. They previously expressed their concern for their son's safety. We now have a better understanding of their fears. I can tell you unequivocally that most of the Israeli people feel that we are being unfairly viewed by the rest of the world who are so concerned about the "poor Palestinians" and their suffering without understanding that there is an easy way to ease things for them. Stop the terrorist actions against Israel. Remember, before the Intifada, Palestinians had relatively free access to Israel, worked in large numbers in Israel, had few checkpoints and no wall or fence. Israel's actions against the terrorists have actually been reactions to terrorist attacks or planned attacks. Believe me the actions Israel has taken, such as the so called wall which is mostly fence, has reduced suicide bombings and terrorist attacks within Israel. The terrorist response has been the kassam rockets. Israelies will tell you that the government response has been too little and too late. Most, I think, would favor a mass invasion of Gaza to wipe out the Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces and destroy their entire infrastructure. Who knows, this still may happen.
I hope that this summary gives you an idea at least as to how some of us feel in Israel.
___________________________________
We went with a busload of folks from our synagogue on Jan 30 to Sderot to show our support and spend some money to give a little help to their economy. The experience was both moving and enlightening.
Our first stop was Kibbutz Nir Am which is located between Gaza and Sderot. We went to the fence separting the kibbutz from Palestinian territory less than a half mile from Gaza City. Many of the kassam rockets fired from Gaza fall short of their target in Sderot and land in the kibbutz. 80 families live in the kibbutz and we were told that all of the children are under psychological care. When a kassam is fired, an alarm sounds (called the red alert or seva adom) and they have 17 seconds to get shelter. There are no real shelters available so they try to find the most secure area they can. Along the road they have built small concrete shelters that look like an open 3 sided box about 3 feet high. They run to the shelter and crouch until the siren sounds all clear. Most of the families would like to leave but they can't afford to because no one wants to buy their homes or the businesses they have set up there. They earn their money mostly by agriculture but this has been a drought year and then the sudden unusual cold winter has hurt their crops. A factory produces cutlery and steel pots and pans and such and that is doing well because they sell to the army and commercial establishments but even then they can't sell the factory and the workers are scared of the kassams. No one has been killed as of this writing at this kibbutz and physical damage has been minimal but the psychological damage is extensive. The feeling is that the Gov't of Israel is not helping them. They can pinpoint the rocket fire and can respond with rockets of their own of much higher technical proficiency than any the Hamas have been firing but they are not allowed to do so. Why? The terrorists fire from congested areas such as behind a school or mosque and Israeli fire would probably kill many civilians subjecting Israel to condemnation for its response being disproportionate and collective punishment. The Israeli army used to respond to these kassam attacks by firing on empty fields and when they then started killing terrorists through air strikes and targeted assassinations these actions brought on more world condemnation. So what is Israel supposed to do in a war against an enemy pledged to its destruction? The world says that Israel is required to issue moral condemnations and to supply the enemy with free and open access to Israel and Egypt, to Israeli hospitals, food, oil, water, electricty and whatever the Gazans need. Imagine during WWII that the Allies were required to allow free shippping to German ships and supplied the Germans with all the supplies they wanted. No, you can't imagine that.
We then went to Sderot and were met by the deputy mayor. He told us of the experiences the people of Sderot were going through with kassams being fired almost daily and showed us homes that were damaged as a result. He took us to the main police station where kassam rocket fragments were stored, each marked by date and location of it's landing. After this, we went shopping to do a little to help the economy of Sderot. Of course it won't do much but the people at Kibbutz Nir Am and Sderot appreciated our coming and showing support. They told us that many people are afraid to come there. Actually, though we hadn't planned it, the weather was terrible and rockets are not generally fired during such bad weather so we were perfectly safe - wet but safe.
We have friends living in Ashkelon, only about 8-10 miles from Gaza, whose son attends Sapir college in Sderot. They previously expressed their concern for their son's safety. We now have a better understanding of their fears. I can tell you unequivocally that most of the Israeli people feel that we are being unfairly viewed by the rest of the world who are so concerned about the "poor Palestinians" and their suffering without understanding that there is an easy way to ease things for them. Stop the terrorist actions against Israel. Remember, before the Intifada, Palestinians had relatively free access to Israel, worked in large numbers in Israel, had few checkpoints and no wall or fence. Israel's actions against the terrorists have actually been reactions to terrorist attacks or planned attacks. Believe me the actions Israel has taken, such as the so called wall which is mostly fence, has reduced suicide bombings and terrorist attacks within Israel. The terrorist response has been the kassam rockets. Israelies will tell you that the government response has been too little and too late. Most, I think, would favor a mass invasion of Gaza to wipe out the Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces and destroy their entire infrastructure. Who knows, this still may happen.
I hope that this summary gives you an idea at least as to how some of us feel in Israel.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:23 PM
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