After a lengthy hiatus, I have decided to go back to writing my blog. I suffered from lack of time, writer's block, a layoff from work, and basic inertia. Now I am feeling ready to tackle some issues and this is the perfect space to document my ideas.
A year ago, my husband I am were toying with the idea of spending time in Israel. He had a sabbatical and wanted to spend some of his time studying in Jerusalem, a desire we dreamt about for many years. As I was employed fulltime at an accounting firm with very limited time off, the idea of spending weeks in Israel was appealing, but improbable. In October, just a few weeks before my daughter's wedding, I was given notice and laid off. Many of my friends told me that "when one door closes, another opens" and I tossed that off as a well-meaning platitude. I am happy to report that platitudes can come true. My new situation is much more flexible, I am working with smart, generous, and like-minded people, and got the green-light to take some much needed time off. The trip that we dreamed about--Israel--was on!
Over the next few weeks I will share the thoughts, feelings, and observations from our visit to Israel, but also Jordan and Egypt. Today I wanted to start off by telling you about a day tour we took to the Negev under the auspices of the Jewish National Fund.I had attended a lunch a few weeks before the trip detailing some of the great projects that JNF has has done throughout Israel, but one in particular captured my heart and I was determined to go on this trip to witness first hand what was happening there.
Our day started off in a mini-bus from central Jerusalem. We met a group of fellow tourists including a political reporter from the Jerusalem Post, a family of Canadians, some Israelis, and a dedicated JNF volunteer from Cincinnati. After the usual game of "Jewish Geography" (where are you from, do you know so and so, etc.), we were off on our trip. We had several stops during the day, but the one that was the true highlight of the tour and the one that I really wanted to see was the Israeli town of Sderot.
Sderot is only a few miles away from the border with Hamas-ruled Gaza. In many ways, it resembles a small town in many places, except for one detail: it is the "Bomb Shelter Capital" of the world. Here are some statistics: since 2001 over 12,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from the Gaza Strip, since Israel withdrew all citizens and military in 2005 rocket fire increased to 7,000 rockets fired at Israel, and during the so-called ceasefires almost 1000 rockets were fired. http://sderot.worldmedianetworks.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=309&q=6&s=16
I wanted to visit Sderot to see how the people could live under these terrible conditions and what the city was like. Our first stop was to the Sderot Indoor Recreation Center. A brightly painted exterior with the Hebrew greeting "Bruchim Habaim" welcomed us to this state of the art facility housed in a former textile factory. Our guide, Shachar, showed us a Kassam missile that landed in Sderot to give us an idea about the size of these weapons. Upon entering the facility, we observed hundreds of kids playing in a variety of settings. It was happy noise! There is an indoor soccer field, a multi-media theater, and a birthday room--but with a twist. Those rooms were all bomb shelters. When the Tzeva Adom--Red Alert signal is sounded, everyone in Sderot has only 15 seconds to get to a shelter, including the kids in the rec center. There are bouncing rooms, petting zoos, dress-up areas, foozball and ping pong tables, and a cafe in the rec center--all within a 15 second sprint to the bomb shelters. One notable activity was the climbing wall. We saw that it wasn't very high and it was explained to us that if the wall was any higher, ropes and harnesses would be required. If the Tzeva Adom alert sounded, the kids would not be able to rappell down, get out of their harnesses and run for cover in under 15 seconds. The kids all looked happy and it was a fantastic experience and respite for them. The kids do not play outdoors--ever. What a life. http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/our-projects/security/sderot-indoor-playground.html
Then back on the bus and off to our next spot. Along the way, we saw unusual bus stops. Even though they were brightly painted, it couldn't hide the fact that these bus stops were actually bomb shelters strategically placed within a 15 second run when the sirens wail. No one was outside, but there was construction going on everywhere. The government has funded the construction of 5,000 bomb shelters in people's homes. That's right, in their homes. They aren't leaving. Would you stand for this in your country, your town, your HOME??? The people and children of Sderot have suffered tremendously from the constant shelling, the deaths, injuries, destruction since 2001 and yet they are staying. Finally our bus stopped at a barren hill overlooking Gaza. We were less than a mile from the border and could see Gaza City, the Ashkelon power plant (the souce of power for the Gaza Strip), and most of the central Gaza Strip. A reservoir built by JNF was protected by fencing and cameras mounted on tethered helium balloons. In different times, this hilltop could have been a beautiful park for picnicing families.
The people of Sderot are mostly poor Ethiopian, North African, and Russian immigrants and life has been difficult enough. They are resilient, it is quiet now, but most are wary of that. In the meantime, the world has supported Hamas and the Gazans. We passed by the road that goes to Erez Crossing to the Gaza Strip and saw a mile long line of semi trucks waiting to deliver goods there. A new shopping mall, water park, and luxury hotels have opened in Gaza. They are not starving-they are rearming and using fungible money to do that. Again, not being truthfully reported. The courageous people of Sderot have suffered in silence without the media and world telling their stories. I want to be a part of the world that doesn't ignore my people and to shed light on a courageous city-Sderot.
Just days after I returned home to Phoenix, more rockets were launched against Sderot. One landed on a children's rehabilitation center, completely destroying it. Fortunately, it was Shabbat , a Saturday and no one was there at the time http://sderot.worldmedianetworks.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=693&q=3 Since there were no casulties, it was not reported. On the day we left Israel, another rocket landed 15 kilometers away in the heart of the city of Ashkelon (the power plant gives Gaza 70% of its electricity--why???) http://sderot.worldmedianetworks.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=691&q=3 where the residents don't have bomb shelters everywhere. Just last week, more missiles were fired towards the Israeli port city of Eilat (we were there) but missed their target and landed in Jordan in Aqaba (we were there too) killing a Jordanian cabdriver. How does the US Government handle this? They issue a travel warning for Eilat--not Aqaba! We are living in a topsy-turvy world where bad is rewarded and good is punished.
For more information on Sderot, visit http://sderot.worldmedianetworks.com/ and for more information on the great work of JNF, visit http://www.jnf.org/about-jnf/
I have attached some photos of the Recreation Center in my blog's photo album. Please support the people of Sderot by forwarding my story and learning about what is really happening there. It means alot for them to know that we care about the truth.
