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The faces behind the headlines
Hundreds of students answered the call and traveled to Sderot over the holiday of Sukkot. This is what they saw
Erik Levis and Carmen Godeanu
The daily reports of Quassam rockets launched towards Sderot in past years provide a poor picture to what the residents of city have to go through in their everyday life. In order to show support and help the residents of the city, a random coalition of students from all over Israel arrived to a three day volunteering project. Accompanied by representatives from the Sderot Media Center, we went to the city to hear its true story.
Chava Gada offers a diluted, yet authentic smile as she welcomes guests to her patio. She pops a cigarette into her mouth as she sits down and starts recounting some of the stories that have unnaturally aged her otherwise youthful face. Years of Quassam rocket attacks aimed at her hometown of Sderot have taken their toll on her and her family. As she begins to tell her guests about her children and their suffering at the hands of this terrorism, her voice begins to crack. Then the tears start to trickle down her face.
Over 20,000 people live in Sderot. They come from varied backgrounds; Russians mingle with Ethiopians, long-timer Sderot residents walking alongside North African olim chadashim. Their fears and concerns, however, are one and the same: the constant threat of terrorist Quassam rockets, and the government’s inadequate rush to aid Sderot citizens. Chava’s story is far from the exception in this working-class town one mile outside the Gaza Strip. These days it’s the rule.
Despite an average of 3.2 Quassam rockets fired at Sderot per day, bomb shelters and safe rooms are inadequate. Existing facilities lack the necessary infrastructure to provide safety and security to residents fleeing for their lives when the “tzeva adom” (red alert) siren rings out. Water is lacking. Ventilation is poor. And the elderly have problems reaching the scattered shelters in the 15 seconds afforded from the time a Quassam is launched out of Gaza to the point of impact in Sderot.
Despite Israel’s status as a world leader in many fields, including high-tech and medicine, many Sderot residents reference their everyday lives when pointing out Israel’s profound domestic failures.
“The wealthy people of Sderot left, and the government is failing us,” says 55 year-old Sasson Sara, a resident of Sderot for over 40 years. “I’ve sent my kids away from the city. What kind of father wants to send his kids away? But I’m staying because I don’t want to run away like the government has.”
“We feel abandoned,” said Shoshana Chazan, a Sderot resident who says she cannot leave the city because she does not have enough money to move.
“The city, the mayor and the entire national government is corrupt. What else can I think? No one is doing anything to help us,” says Yiftach David, a 46 year-old lifelong Sderot resident.
Ultimately, the blame for the Quassam attacks, now in their seventh year, lies with the terrorists in Gaza. And until something is done to curb the attacks, people in Sderot will continue to suffer from the trauma of living under constant terrorist threat.
“Personally, this has really affected me because I’ve turned into a person who receives instead of a person who gives. This is one of the lowest points of my life,” admits Gada. “I want my independence returned to me.”
Solutions have thus far been fruitless, but that has not stopped some Sderot residents from attempting to find a sense of normalcy in a decidedly unnatural setting. “I’m not afraid. I’m still going out and still having fun. I’m still living my life,” says 16-year-old Meital Desko.
While optimism still peeks out occasionally, a sense of realism tends to set in. “When you pinch the cheek of an Israeli child and you pinch the cheek of a Palestinian child, it’s the same thing. It’s the same blood,” says Gada. “But why do we keep giving them gestures and they don’t offer anything in return? They don’t fight fair. When I go to a fight, I don’t take 4 year-olds with me like they use in Gaza to launch the Quassams. At the end of the day, if I have to choose between my kids and theirs, I choose mine.”
Erik and Carmen are students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They participated in the project Students Lead South
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