Letter From Sderot

Sderot, Israel

Ben Freed of Ann Arbor is spending the
year in Israel in Young Judaea's Year Course,
which brought participants to Sderot just
one day before terrorists infiltrated the
border and killed two civilians.

I

srael is not a big country. It took all
of 45 minutes to drive from where I
live in Bat Yam to our destination in
Sderot.
Sderot is a town of about 19,000 people
(5,000 more lived there eight years ago)
situated about one-half mile from the Gaza
Strip in southwestern Israel. For the past
seven years, it has been subjected to more
than 8,000 rocket and mortar attacks.
Until 2005, Israel had a presence in Gaza,
including both civilian communities and
military patrols. In the summer of 2005,
Israel unilaterally withdrew all civilians
and military from the Gaza Strip. Our

group visited with civilians withdrawn (or
looted, desecrated and utterly destroyed
as they prefer "expelled") from the Gaza
by Palestinians who could have used the
Strip by the Israeli government. Many still
green houses and community buildings to
live in temporary housing
their benefit.
("cara-villas") in communi-
It was a great debate then in
ties that range from 20 to
Israel — and continues to be a
500 families. Nitzan, the
bitter dispute as to whether the
community we visited, was
unilateral withdrawal from Gaza
one of the largest with about
was a good idea. Israel hoped the
500 families.
Palestinians would begin to set up
Many live in temporary
a national infrastructure, includ-
housing because the Israeli
ing joint ventures with the Israelis
government has yet to
— factories, a power plant and
compensate them fully for
other
sources of income, jobs, and
Ben Fre ed
the land they were forced
economic
viability. Instead, the
Special to the
to give up in Gaza. Others
Palestinians
took Israel's leaving as
Jewish N ews
are waiting until the entire
a sign of weakness. When Hamas
group receives compensation
ran in the 2005 elections as the
so the community can relocate together.
ones who "kicked the Jews out of Gaze
These people's homes were razed by the
they won an overwhelming majority of the
army after they left, but the buildings
votes. The idea that violence works has cre-
left standing (synagogues, greenhouses
ated a dangerous precedent that continues
and .community buildings) were burned,
to cause problems for Jews living inside

Israel.
Sderot is the only city in the Western
world forced to live every day under threat
of rocket attacks. When the Tzeva Adorn
(Color Red), sirens go off, residents and
visitors have 15 seconds to get to the near-
est shelter or reinforced room they can
find.
Sderot, with up to 50 rockets a day, has
become a ghost town. Even on a beauti-
ful day, we could count on two hands the
people we saw walking on the sidewalks.
The fear these people live in every day is
truly palpable.
This situation is inexcusable and should
not be allowed to continue. It is a miracle,
truly a miracle, that fewer than 10 people
have been killed by these rockets. Do we
really need to wait until the kindergarten
classroom is full when a Kassam hits it
before we do anything?
Unfortunately, the old truism "if it
bleeds, it leads" is all too true when talking

Meir Finkelstein, Alberto Mizrahi, David Propis and Chayim Frenkel

For more information, or to receive tickets,
please call Tobye Bello at 248/357-5544
or e-mail tbello@shaareyzedek.org

Generously sponsored by the Laker Family and Alvin and Henrietta Weisberg

A30

April 17 2008