Hey Everybody,
It's been over a week since I first landed back in New Jersey. It's crazy how fast one falls back into the rhythm of life. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
On the last night of the trip, we discussed as a group what the highlights of the trip were. A friend of mine, Ben, made a very interesting comment. He said that Sderot was one of the most "real" places he's ever been.
That comment struck a chord in me that I hadn't felt before. Ben was absolutely right. I doubt I've seen anything as "real" either.
You may asking yourself, what does this mean? To be "real"? Isn't everything "real"? How can one thing be more "real" then any other thing?
In order to best explain this, one needs to know about Sderot.
Some history: Sderot is the one of the largest cities in the Negev. The Negev is the southern part of Israel, and mostly a huge desert. The most interesting aspect of Sderot is it's proximity to the Gaza Strip.
Sderot is one kilometer away from the Gaza Strip. At one point during our tour, we stood on top of a hill that overlooked the Gaza Strip. As you may or may not know, the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel is one of the most heavily fortified in the world. Sderot is the nearest city to the Gaza Strip.
Now why is this important?
Over the past decade, terrorists from the Gaza Strip have aimed rockets and missiles into Sderot. Hundreds upon hundreds of attacks have hit this city of 20,000. At any given time, a missile or rocket can hit. There is a 15 second alarm that alerts the city of any impeding attack.
There have been reports of up to 20 rockets hitting Sderot in a SINGLE DAY.
Every single house has an adjoining bomb shelter. The tour guide told us that he has certain ways of getting to the grocery just in case the alarm sounds off. The amount of time that it took you to read up to here is about triple (or quadruple) the amount of time the people have in Sderot to find a bomb shelter.
The rockets and missiles hit indiscriminately. They have hit schools, houses, and hospitals. At one point during the tour, we were taken to a park where children can play. In order to protect the kids, the whole play area are huge bomb shelters that are painted as caterpillars.
Our tour guide also mentioned that up to 80% of the children there suffer from PTSD. This, is quite understandable. I couldn't imagine growing up in a city that gets attacked as frequently as Sderot.
We were taken to the police station of Sderot. They collect everything that is fired from the Gaza Strip, and put it on display. We learned that different terrorist groups color their missiles differently. Green is one terrorist group, yellow is another.
Apparently, four days prior to us visiting, an alarm had gone off. This meant that we were in an active war zone. Try going to bed after that!
My friend Ben put it so delicately. This was one of the most "real" things that he ever experienced. I agree with him fully.
That's it for now,
Z
