Living Under Attack

On our second day we drove to Sderot where up to 50 Kassam rockets fall each day, launched by militants in Gaza. We had lunch at a café which provides opportunities for what we in the US would call Alternative Education. High school students that are having difficulty in school have an opportunity there to work and study outside of the traditional class room. In Sderot the drop out rate is very high – near 50%. This is – in part - due to the stress of life “under attack” but also because the population of Sderot is mostly later immigrants from eastern Europe, who have had a much more difficult time finding acceptance in the greater Israeli society.

Following lunch we met several members of the urban kibbutz Migvan. They spoke of their “seven years of hell” living with daily rocket attacks. But most astonishing was their lack of anger at Gazans in general. They understood (better than many we met later, who did not have that direct experience) that not only did the militants launching the attack not represent the broader population of Gaza, but also that the occupation creates the situation where people feel that violence is their only voice. One woman spoke quietly of her despair, “I am living in Sderot for 20 years. I never lost empathy with the other side. I find myself unable to sleep, not because of the kassams but because of the Israeli army. For a time they bombed 24 hours a day. They committed crimes. Sometimes I feel ashamed of what the occupation has made of the Israeli State.”

Later we were taken by Coby Harush, the military officer in charge in Sderot, to an overlook where we could not only see the northern border of Gaza, but also how close it is to Sderot. As we stood there Coby received word that a kassam and several mortars had been fired, but toward an area not near us. We later found out that the mortars did not make it outside of Gaza and the Kassam fell in a field away from any population.

As we were looking toward Gaza, greenhouses and homes were visible, but they fall with in the “no-go” zone. This is an area of several kilometers where Gazans are not allowed for “security reasons”. We could also see the listening posts and a couple of drones with listening equipment overhead. One of the targets of the missile attacks is the power plant at the northern border. Even the young woman who earlier had been very sympathetic to the Gazans was mystified at why they would bomb the source of power. She did not understand that the “power” the militants were objecting to was the power of the Israelis to use electricity as a tool of control.

Earlier, on our way to Sderot we stopped at Erez Crossing which had been the major point of entry into Israel for Gazan laborers. With the closure of the border by Israel, Erez was eerily quiet and the guards seemed bored. After leaving Erez a couple of Blackhawk helicopters flew over, heading toward Gaza. Our guide, very matter of fact, said “Someone will die today.” When we arrived back at the hotel we found out that in fact an insurgent and 4 civilians had been killed.