Post by Salem6 on Nov 29, 2003 11:03:30 GMT
Introduction
The danger to Israelis from suicide bombers has become grimly familiar. But in parts of Israel people also live in fear of Palestinian missile attack.
BBC News Online's Martin Asser visited the towns of Sderot and Ashkelon near the Gaza strip, which are vulnerable to attack by Qassam missiles fired by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
'A nice place to live'
Eli Moyal has been the mayor of Sderot since Qassam missiles started landing on the town in February 2002.
He insists that the threat from the sky has not driven residents away from the town; on the contrary new families are drawn there by cheap housing costs.
Mixed origins
Sderot came into being in the early 1950s and was mainly home to Jews coming from North Africa to the newly-founded state of Israel.
But the town's demography has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, with the influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who now make up half the population.
On the frontline
Mayor Eli Moyal shows on the map of Sderot where Hamas' Qassam missiles have landed – all over the town of 25,000 inhabitants.
He points to his own house on the edge of the town's new north-west suburb, which is only 800 metres from where the first rockets landed in February 2002.
Neighbours
This is the view from the edge of Sderot, with the Gaza Strip and Beit Hanoun visible in the distance.
Rockets take six seconds to travel from agricultural areas around Beit Hanoun before they land in Sderot. Israeli forces have staged repeated incursions to stop attacks.
A close shave
Out on the streets of Sderot people are going about their business regardless of the possibility of a Qassam attack.
Everyone – including Sassoon, a grocer – has a tale to tell of Qassam attacks, although his story shows that you can emerge unscathed even from a very close shave with a Qassam.
Trauma at home
Not everyone has got off so lightly. Take mother-of-three Betsheva who is still suffering the consequences of a rocket attack six months ago.
Only reluctantly does she pose with her young daughter for this photograph where the Qassam rocket landed on the terrace at the rear of her house.
Forgotten victims
The outside of Betsheva's house has been refurbished, but she has not benefited from the financial support that Sderot receives as a "frontline community".
Israel's top politicians came to see the large crater left by the Qassam, including the PM, but she now feels forgotten and vulnerable to further attacks.
Restless youth
Despite some people's experience, not everyone here feels the strain of living so close to Gaza. Their concerns are socio-economic ones, not about security.
Eli is typical of many young people here. He wants to leave at the first opportunity, hoping life has more to offer him outside a small community like Sderot.
Ashkelon under fire
Sderot is now well used to being fired at from Gaza, but in Ashkelon further north it is a different matter.
This is where a Qassam rocket landed late in August, outside a brewery on Ashkelon's southern outskirts. Is the city about to became the next frontline for Hamas attacks?
Resilience
Sarah Porat lives on the southern edge of Ashkelon – a neighbourhood that could be in the firing line if Hamas succeeds in extending the range of Qassam rockets.
But she says she has no qualms about her position – and she will not be budged whatever happens.