Bombardment Of Sderot And Its Human Effects

Jerusalem – There was another Kassam rocket barrage at the Negev on Thursday morning.

Twelve rockets landed near Sderot just as students were making their way to school. One woman was hurt by shrapnel and one house was damaged. A number of children suffered from shock.

Revital (family name withheld by Israeli Security), who owns a family business, next to which one of the rockets fell, related: “Our business is not fortified. To fortify it we have to pay a great deal of money. To be able to hear the Red Color alert properly we also have to pay. This is what the state decided, that we have to do this on our own, with our own money.”

Residents of Sderot and the Western Negev have experienced a great many frightening moments as the terrorist organizations in Gaza stepped up their activities and fired some 50 Kassam rockets at Israel.

The massive rocket fire on Israel from within the Gaza Strip began on Wednesday morning, with approximately 25 rockets being fired at Western Negev communities within the course of a single hour. By 3 p.m., around 40 Kassams had fallen, and by the evening the number had risen to 50.

However, the continual shooting notwithstanding, the political echelon instructed the army to continue to act against terrorist elements in Gaza without embarking on the extensive ground operation for which the IDF has been prepared for a long time. The instructions handed down by the political echelon accord with the position adopted by the IDF’s most senior officers, who fear that a ground operation, unless it continues for a very long time, will not necessarily put an end to the rocket fire on the Western Negev.

Because of the massive rocket fire and because schools in Sderot are not completely fortified against such attacks, local resident Batya Katar on Wednesday appealed to Arkady Gaidamak and asked him to evacuate high-school children from the town. Gaidamak responded by ordering buses to take 200 of the town children away for a long weekend in Jerusalem’s Tzippori Forest, but the wait for the buses’ arrival was fraught with moments of fear, as a Red Color alert was heard while the children were waiting. The terrified youngsters scrambled to take cover in a small concrete fortification. Fortunately the rocket fell in open ground just outside the town. A few minutes later another Red Color alert was heard, and this time the rockets fell inside the town. Five people suffering from shock were treated by Magen David Adom.

Only a few children responded to Mr. Gaidamak’s invitation to take a break in Jerusalem. School teachers and principals called children and their parents and asked them to reconsider leaving town. “Unfortunately, some parents are so scared that they are willing to get their children out of town at any price, even if this means missing school,” said one high-school staff member.

After the Kassam attack Sderot police chief Dep. Cmdr. Shimon Nahmani talked to Batya Katar and suggested postponing the children’s trip, because of the dangers involved in waiting for the buses. “I accepted his suggestion, and so only 85 children left town,” said Ms. Katar.

While Sderot residents were under Kassam fire, the government on Wednesday informed the High Court of Justice that it was unable at this stage to take an operative decision regarding the fortification of the residents’ homes. The government was responding to a petition to the court by residents of Sderot who are demanding a budget allocation this year for the fortification of 800 homes whose roofs are unable to withstand a Kassam attack.

The government, by means of attorney Dina Silber of the State Attorney’s Office, explained to the High Court that a decision on this matter depended on other factors apart from the present situation of Sderot residents. “The government cannot take a decision regarding the area of Sderot in isolation from the question of overall policy,” said the government’s response. “This position is liable to create an extreme precedent with regard to the homes of residents of other parts of the country who find themselves at present, or may find themselves in the future, under threat of high trajectory fire.” The Prime Minister’s Bureau said in response: “When the government takes a decision regarding the form and scope of the fortification, NIS 50 million will be added for the purpose, as the prime minister has promised.”

At the same time, the Israel National Insurance Institute has increased the number of teams of social workers working in Sderot to meet the pressing needs of the town under fire. National Insurance Institute Director-General Yigal Ben Shalom will go to Sderot this morning to inspect the teams’ work. Mr. Ben Shalom suggested to the Ministry of Defense that a plan of operation should be formulated to change the procedure for recognition of victims of shock.

The IDF “Home Front Command” recommends activating the Red Color alert warning system against rockets in Ashkelon, however at this stage, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, who is in charge of home front affairs, accepts the view of the mayor not to do so, out of concern that activating the system would deal a fatal economic blow to the city.

The dilemma over whether to activate the system in Ashkelon recently became more acute in light of two cases in which Grad rockets fell in the city. In order to alert Ashkelon residents in all cases of a rocket launched in their direction, the Home Front Command installed the Red Color alert system quite some time ago, but the activation button is still turned off. Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mahatzri believes that this should not be done on the grounds that activating the alarm would lead to a dramatic plummet of real estate prices and badly damage commercial life.

The dilemma was put at the doorstep of Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai. Defense Minister Barak and Prime Minister Olmert also support the decision not to activate the system.

On the other hand, some military sources say that we should hope that the rocket fire at Ashkelon does not continue and does not cause casualties. “In such a case, everyone will ask how it was that the residents were not alerted,” said one source. Incoming OC Home Front Command Yair Golan has still not expressed an unequivocal opinion on the matter. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai’s bureau commented: “The security establishment holds situation assessments on the security situation and the necessary response, and employs judgment corresponding to the risks and threats against the various communities.”

The Response To The Attacks

The Israeli security establishment believes that IDF attacks in their present form are exacting a price from the Palestinians.

Osama al-Muzaini, the Hamas terrorist in charge of matters relating to the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, threatens that if the incursions into Gaza and the West Bank continue, Mr. Shalit’s fate is liable to be the same as that of Ron Arad – the Israeli air force pilot who was captured in Lebanon on 1986 and never released.

Another Hamas terror leader, Moussa Abu Marzuk, confirmed that the continuing IDF attacks were having an effect on the understandings and mediation with regard to Mr. Shalit. He added, however, that as no deal had been concluded so far, it was impossible to talk of postponement or change. He said that Hamas was still waiting for Israel’s response with regard to Mr. Shalit. Mr. Abu Marzuk reiterated that the disagreements within the Israeli government were delaying the exchange deal. He was interviewed by the Palestinian news service, Al-Quds al-Arabi.

“I received a written letter of condolence from Gilad Shalit’s father,” Hamas “foreign minister” Mahmoud a-Zahar revealed to a correspondent from the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, as he was sitting in a mourners’ tent set up after the death of his second son in the Air Force strike two days ago in Gaza.

“I haven’t yet replied,” he told us. “I haven’t had time because I was busy all day in the mourners’ booth.”

Yediot asked Mr. a-Zahar: Will the death of your son affect Gilad?

“I have not been in touch with those handling the Shalit matter and I don’t know what’s going on with him,” Mahmoud a-Zahar said. “I don’t know what to tell you at this stage… “I am not the only one mourning my son.

All of Gaza mourns for him.

Yediot also asked him the most critical question: “Why don’t you stop the Kassam rocket fire and bring about quiet”?

“You are responsible for the rockets,” Mahmoud a-Zahar was quick to reply.

At the same time, Hamas’ Damascus-based terror chieftain Khaled Mashal said, “Gilad Shalit will not see the light of day until all the Hamas prisoners are released.” At a press conference in Damascus, he attacked Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak and said, “the slaughter in Zeitoun” would have a negative effect on the negotiations to release Mr. Shalit.

“Our response will be in acts, not in press conferences or talk. The Zionist prime minister wants Shalit in order to gain ratings in Israeli public opinion before the Winograd report comes out to obscure his failures in the war in Lebanon,” said Mr. Mashal. “And I am telling Olmert: We will not give you Shalit and we will not help you be popular on the Israeli street.”

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008