"It won't take another eight years, perhaps even less than a year, but the reality (in southern Israel) won't change tomorrow," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said
Tuesday during a visit to the small community of Yesha, where 70-year-old Kibbutz Gvaram resident Shuli Katz was killed less
than 24 hours earlier by a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza.
During the visit Barak told the heads of the Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev regional councils that the government was working toward achieving calm in the area, adding that he would expedite the fortification of Israel's southern communities.
The residents asked that Barak grant them authorization to privately fortify their homes and be reimbursed once the 2009 State Budget is approved. Some locals urged Barak to launch a military operation in Gaza to quell the incessant rocket fire.
"If Israel continues to remain silent and not respond, they (Palestinian terrorists) will win," one resident told the defense minister.
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