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Protest tent
Photo: Dana Kopel

Sderot residents set up protest tents in Tel Aviv

Rabin Square becomes encampment's permanent residence. Mayor of rocket-battered town: We have come to shatter the 'Tel Avivian bubble'

After folding up their protest encampment in Jerusalem, Sderot residents on Thursday moved their tents to Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. The Sderot Municipality's operations will also be conducted in Tel Aviv until further notice.

 

The encampment was visited by council heads from southern Israel, including the mayors of Beersheba, Dimona and Arad. Other mayors are expected to arrive at the protest tents throughout the day in solidarity with the residents of the rocket-battered city.

 

Beersheba resident Yehuda Alush arrived in Tel Aviv from the Jerusalem encampment, and he plans to sit there and protest as long as it takes.

 

"We are here to tell Tel Aviv's residents that people can no longer ignore the situation which Sderot residents face on a daily basis. We are here to sound the Color Red (alert system) in Tel Aviv, so that the residents feel what Sderot's residents feel.

 

"We are not here to call for war or for a military campaign. There are people here, including myself, who have come to call on the government to work for a ceasefire with Hamas and for a dialogue with the other side in order to stop this devil's dance."


Protest moves to Tel Aviv (Photo: Dana Kopel)

 

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal said, "We have come here to settle in the residents' hearts and issue a manifesto saying that we cannot continue with the current situation. We have come here to shatter the concept of the Tel Avivian bubble because there is no such bubble.

 

"The same bubble is protected by a wall in Sderot, and should this wall be cracked, Tel Aviv will also be unprotected. We have not come here to set fire to tires or to block roads, but to meet this country's residents and call for a solution together. We are not telling the government what to do and not calling it to launch a war. All we want is a solution," he added.

 

'What good will it do if we sit here?'

Beersheba Mayor Yaakov Turner said, "We came here, all the council heads, to convey an unequivocal message: We cannot accept the current situation, the daily danger which our brothers in Sderot face.

 

"We have arrived in Tel Aviv because we have a feeling that the residents are not exactly aware of what is going on and are settling for the short bulletins on the media, instead of understanding what Sderot's residents experience every day."

 

According to Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen, "We shall not leave Eli Moyal to deal with this war by himself. We have come here and will sit together in order to protest and support, because this is everyone's problem."

 

Givatayim resident Dvora Yizraelim, who passed by the protest tent, believes that Tel Aviv is not the place for the residents' distress.

 

"I identify with these residents and believe that no one is taking care of them, unfortunately. The government is abandoning them and the residents of central Israel are really indifferent to everything happening, but what can we do?

 

"What good will it do if we sit with them and support them? Will it stop the Qassams? Only the government can solve their distress."

 

Tel Aviv resident Amir Carmeli thinks otherwise. "I believe that Sderot's residents have arrived at the right place. Tel Aviv's residents want to help, but are afraid to come there. Here they will get help and mental and economic support."

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.21.08, 14:31
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