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.

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An eerie week

Shalom from Sderot!

It was a very eerie week - it was so quiet and the helicopters and fighter planes reminded us of the hornet's nest less than a kilometer (1/2 a mile) away in Gaza. We were able to function normally for almost a whole week (last Friday until last night, Wednesday). Of course, we still knew that, though we had a small breather, it wouldn't be forever. 

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Leaving Sderot

The Biton family have lived in Sderot for almost 25 years. Both Debby and her husband were born in Sderot and have three children, Mor, Ziv, and Noa. The family has experienced two kassam rocket attacks on their home in the past seven years of rocket fire from Gaza. The door to the entrance of their house still has holes from the shrapnel of a rocket which exploded one year ago in their yard.

"Our home is no longer the center of our family life," says Debby. "My children cannot live with this rocket terror, so two have moved away to maintain a sense of normalcy." Morr, 22, is the oldest of the three children. She  moved away a year ago to Ashkelon and studies at a college there. Her younger sister, Ziv, 18, has moved to Jerusalem to complete her high school studies and matriculation exams. For Ziv, life in Sderot was especially difficult, due to the fact that she is partially blind.

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Sticking it out

I lived on Kibbutz Saad (7 minute drive from Sderot) for three months during the spring of 06', volunteering with kids in the elementary school and in after-school activities.

I got a call from my "Kibbutz Mom" while I was on my way to Jerusalem Thursday evening, that two kids I know from Saad - Roe and Rome - were entering Rome's house in Sderot (they're neighbors) when a Kassam fell on Rome's house (5 minute walk from me).

Rome and Roe are alright. But Rome's mom was the 40 year old woman lightly-moderately wounded by the Kassam. Their house is not protected from rocket fire; the usual in Sderot.

Hey Olmert you home? Some people I know need a little help, care at all?