Sleepless in Sderot, Judy Lash Balint
Excerpts;
Since the Israeli withdrawal from Gush Katif last summer, Sderot has become the new address for a barrage of Kassam rockets fired from the area of the now-destroyed Jewish communities of Dugit, Alei Sinai and Nisanit. According to IDF statistics, more than 600 Kassams have been launched against Israel from the Gaza Strip since last September. Several have targeted the Ashkelon industrial area, but it’s Sderot, barely three miles away from Beit Hanoun, that has borne the brunt of the onslaught.
Last weekend alone, seventy of the crude arrowhead missiles were launched toward Israel. Four Israelis were wounded and a few buildings were damaged. Every time there’s an incoming Kassam, a warning siren sounds. It’s called ‘Red Dawn’ and provides all of 15 seconds for people to dive next to a wall or under the bed. To say that the citizens of Sderot are on edge would be a severe understatement.
A group of residents is currently conducting a hunger strike in a small Sderot park. Their demand is simple – get the IDF to strike Beit Hanoun so they can live in peace and quiet. The park where they’ve set up their protest tent is a few yards away from the home of Defense Minister Amir Peretz, leader of Israel’s Labor party. Peretz hasn’t been home much lately – he’s too busy issuing empty threats from Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Peretz clearly warned Hamas to stop launching rockets at southern Israel or “face the wrath of the IDF.” One day later, when a Kassam collapses an industrial building in Sderot injuring one worker, Peretz tells the Knesset plenum his preference would be for both sides to work out their differences within the context of an agreement.
At his press conferences with world leaders last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert barely mentioned the suffering citizens of Sderot. Mr. Olmert shouldn’t expect a quiet homecoming.
To read the full article, click Sleepless in Sderot
Background: Why Israel is Not Taking Serious Measures to Stop the Qassams, by Aaron Lerner
Excerpts;
Will the Sderot protests now planned to start tomorrow somehow put the Sderot story on the top of the news heap long enough for the Olmert administration to be forced to act?
Given that the media is supporting Peretz (all the major papers ran favorable interviews with him in their weekend editions) the odds are against the protest working (in the absence of a successful rocket attack).
The fate of the protest will be clear by the evening news broadcasts. Even if the action get decent coverage, if the stories do not include follow-up with DM Peretz and PM Olmert being pressed to respond the protest will probably not be perceived by the Olmert team as requiring a serious response.
To read the full report, click Background: Why Israel is Not Taking Serious Measures to Stop the Qassams