 |
Rachel Saperstein is a teacher at the Neve Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council.
|
|
|
|
By Rachel Saperstein
May 22, 2007
 Bookmark to del.icio.us
We were invited to a young people's concert in Ashkelon. It was charming, and as a former English teacher I smiled with fond memories as the choir sang "The heels are alive wid the sond of moozic".
Not wanting to return immediately to our plywood home, I suggested coffee at one of Ashkelon's beachfront hotels. Sitting in the lobby, feeling luxurious, we heard the loud, angry voices of hotel guests. The word 'Kassam' was repeated over and over. Our sense of luxury disappeared and Reality Israel honed in.
I approached the group. "Where are you from?" I asked.
"Sderot". I could sense their agitation. They had come to Ashkelon to enjoy a weekend respite from the continued bombing.
"When are you going home?"
"That's what is bothering us. It's hard to return to living with rockets exploding and always wondering if the next one will hit your home."
"I know how you feel. We lived under attack for five years in Gush Katif. We warned the government that if they did not prevent 'settlements' from being hit, towns and cities would be next. And with sorrow we were correct. I remember the mother of a soldier saying 'Why should I send my son into Gaza to protect you?' My answer was, 'If our soldiers will not protect me, who will protect you when the bombs reach your neighborhood?'"
So we were expelled and the bombs fall on the Western Negev kibbutzim and on the town of Sderot and move ever closer to the Ashkelon power plant.
Today we heard the sound of jets as they flew on a bombing mission into Gaza. We occasionally heard a thud as the missile hit its mark. But we don't hear a sound from our influential Jews. Are our ordinary Jews so expendable? Don't the influential Jews hear the suffering of their fellow Jews? These are the same influential Jews who were willing to acquiesce in the destruction of 23 Jewish communities of Gush Katif. Are they willing to see all of southern Israel turned into a wasteland as long they aren't personally affected?
We received a booklet, with magnet attached, from the Israel Home Command. I dutifully stuck it on the refrigerator, though I haven't gotten around to reading it. The subject: How to react under a rocket attack. At our refugee camp, a three minute missile flight from Gaza, we have neither security rooms nor a single concrete shelter. Our safety is in the Almighty's hands.
Moshe and I have been talking of moving to Sderot for a month or two in solidarity with the besieged. Our ability to work with the foreign press might prove important again.
It is the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah. Central to the Torah is the land of Israel. When the Jew respects the land, the land will thrive. When we are willing to compromise the land, the land will spit us out.
It is the ordinary people who will hold on to the land. Despite our tears, we will hold on. Hag Sameach!
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
