The falafel and the bulldozer
Coming to Jerusalem to work for a few days seemed like a welcome break from the Kassam rockets that Arab terrorists fire at Sderot. In Jerusalem, the method Arab terrorists prefer to kill random civilians is suicide-bombing. The Israeli army has largely controlled that kind of murder by building a barrier to prevent Arab terrorists from infiltrating Israel. Whenever I come to Jerusalem, I feel liberated, because I do not automatically look around me for a wall to crouch behind as I walk down the street. People living in Sderot develop skills to use when the alarm announces that a rocket is flying in their general direction and will detonate in about fifteen seconds. We automatically, almost unconsciously, look for potential shelter wherever we go. In Jerusalem I need not do this.
Comments (4)The truth is right there
I've just come back from England after spending a whirlwind of two weeks talking non-stop about Sderot and the rocket situation in southern Israel.
I spoke at six different synagogues, covering basically all the different communities in London; Reform, Liberal, Conservative, Orthodox, and Charedi, as well as several schools and functions.
There were two underlying themes that reoccurred during my first visit to London. The first was that the English don't do things last minute. The second went something like this, 'thank goodness for the ceasefire with Hamas.'
Presenting Sderot to England
This is my first trip to London, England to talk about the rocket situation in Sderot and the western Negev. Through my media presentations and talks, English audiences for the first time are seeing video footage of rocket attacks and life under fire in Sderot.
Many times after a lecture, people have come up to me and stated that they had no idea how terrible the rocket situation in Sderot and the western Negev was in reality. "They call these homemade rockets on the news," told me one lady after I spoke at her synagogue in St. John's Wood. "What the media doesn't show is that these 'homemade rockets' can cause so much destruction."
Differentiating between those killed
Shalom from Sderot!
I haven't written for a long time since not much has changed. . . well at least in the government's policy of "let them suffer, we are involved in other important things. . ."
Three people have been killed in the past month:
Al Jazeera and Sderot
On Thursday evening, May 29, 2008 a group of Israeli and Arab college students were aired live on Al Jazeera from Haifa where they participated in a special two-hour program. The college students, studying at Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion, Haifa, and Bar Ilan universities, were asked questions about the future of the state of Israel and about the history and present situation of its citizens.
As one of three students from Bar Ilan University invited to a special Al Jazeera program about Israel, I found myself on an usually warm night debating the future state of Israel with Fayid, Ranin, and several other Arab students studying at Israeli universities.
The whole evening was a bit surreal. Here I was, in Haifa, taking about the future of the state of Israel with people who clearly had a very different idea of the Jewish state. All this on the last TV station I would ever imagine appearing on to talk about Sderot--Al Jazeera!
Netivot: The next Sderot?
This past Saturday, May 24, two red alert sirens activated throughout the western Negev city of Netivot. Two grad Katyusha rockets, fired at the city's population of 30,000, fell in open fields.
Founded in 1956 as development town, Netivot is home to a large number of Sephardi Jews from Morocco and was established three years after the formation of Sderot. Although Netivot has not experienced rocket fire as intensely as Sderot, Hamass more frequent use of grad Katyushas is making Netivot a target for Palestinian rocket fire.
Netivot is about 11 kilometers away from Gaza, slightly further away from the Gazan border than Ashkelon. The first grad Katyusha struck Netivot back in October 2007, landing several hundred meters away from a residential area in Netivot.
Craters, glass and shrapnel
Throughout Saturday afternoon, I heard a number of alarms followed by a number of loud explosions as several rockets hit Sderot. I did not know where they had hit and I decided to go looking for them when the sun went down and the Sabbath ended.
A constant problem here is that we hear the loud KABOOM! when the rocket lands, but we often have no way of knowing exactly where the explosion occurred - unless, of course, the rocket went through the roof of someone's house. We too are dependent on the news media to learn exactly what has happened, but the TV and radio do not mention the address where the rocket fell, because most of their audience does not live in Sderot.
The meaning of Independence in Sderot
The Malka family
Carmit and her husband, Oshri were born and raised in Sderot. Carmit recalls a wonderful childhood, where she was free and happy to play on the streets of Sderot. "My parents were poor, hardworking individuals. I remember growing up, feeling safe and secure in Sderot. I was happy."
"Why can't my kids have that kind of childhood?" Carmit asks.
Their sons Noam and Idan, ages six and four, were not home when a rocket exploded on the Malka's home, Tuesday morning, April 29, at 9:00am. The family had left 30 minutes before, as the parents brought the kids to school and went to work.
Holocaust Remembrance Day: The Moment of the Siren
By 3 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon (April 30), a total of 13 Kassams have fallen on Sderot. I smell the smoke from the last rocket explosion as I stand outside our office looking around.
The silence of the usually busy main street in Sderot is the first indicator that a rocket has just landed. Only a few seconds before, when the siren went off, cars stopped in the middle of the street as drivers rushed out to take cover in the nearest bomb shelter. They come back to their cars looking dazed and out of focus.
Pessah was a BLAST!
Shalom from Sderot!
We came home after a long vacation - and were greeted by Kassam rockets. Well, we expected them. While being in Jerusalem and travelling to all different places, we didn't have to constantly be on the look for shelter. Coming back to Sderot meant getting back into the routine of driving around with the windows open (in the heavy heat) and constantly being aware of where to stop and find protection.
On the trip back from the capital, we listened to the radio. I think the politicians use vacation time for making decisions and statements that they don't really want people to hear - and then they can say "But why didn't you protest then, when I said it?" What's the rumor about Syria being promised the Golan? What kind of "peace talks" have been going on about my future while I was enjoying a holiday with my family?
About this blog Living with Rockets
A glimpse into life under fire as told by inhabitants of Sderot, young people who devote their time to volunteer in the city and by writers from the Sderot Media Center.
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