Over 100 rockets have been fired on the small Negev city and environs over the past five days. The two most recent ones were directed towards Kibbutz Alumim Tuesday night, and another community north of Gaza Wednesday afternoon, causing no injuries or damage.
Alon Davidi, among the initiators of the hunger strike, insisted that it would end only when security and quiet is restored to Sderot. Speaking with Arutz-7 on Wednesday, Davidi said,
"Peretz spoke in the Knesset and called on us to stop our strike, but I can tell him right now: You are welcome to visit us, but we will stop our strike only if you come here with a clear military plan to stop the terrorism of the Hamas government, distance the Kassams from our city, and restore security to our children - and I don't mean by reinforcing the buildings, by retreating from towns, or by holdings summer camps. I'm referring to another Operation Defensive Shield - a massive ground-forces operation inside Gaza."
Former Public Security Minister Uzi Landau (Likud), who resigned from the Cabinet two years ago because of his staunch opposition to the disengagement/expulsion plan, met with the five hunger strikers today. Speaking afterwards with Arutz-7, Landau - who was not elected to the current Knesset - said, "My visit was just like that of any regular citizen who is concerned about the situation and who wants to show solidarity. The people of Sderot are paying the price today for the government's dulled senses and refusal to learn from past mistakes, but soon it will become the struggle of those in Tel Aviv and Raanana, where I live."
Landau recalled that then-Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz warned that "we will make Gaza tremble" if any Kassams are fired towards Israel. "Israel has lost its deterrence power,' Landau said, "and the only trembling in Gaza is their trembling with laughter as they watch us bombard open areas."
"What bothers me most," Landau said, "is the lack of solidarity around the country. People seem to be more concerned over the electricity shortages for their air conditioners than about what is happening to the people of Sderot."
Many children of Sderot continue not to attend school, for fear that a rocket might land in the unreinforced buildings. Just three weeks ago, a rocket smashed into a classroom as the students were about to enter it. Children of the hunger strikers are with them in the protest tent that has been set up outside Peretz's house.
"60% of Sderot's children are in a situation of post-trauma," Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal told the Knesset Education Committee today. "Fear, nightmares, bedwetting - they all need help."
Students of the local Yeshivat Hesder took time off from their studies last night to visit families around the town. One student, Michael, told Arutz-7,
"We printed up a chapter of Psalms - chapter 130 - to be posted on refrigerators. We divided up into pairs, and everyone took a map of the city and their list of assigned blocks, and we just went house to house. We told them that we're all in this together, that we want to help in whatever way we can, etc. People were really very happy, and there was a lot of emotion and a lot of joy, and it was quite moving."
Dozens of Sderot residents also marched part-way towards northern Gaza last night, some of them carrying red cardboard models of Kassam rockets depicting the threat their city faces from the Gaza terrorists. At the same time, dozens of Tel Aviv citizens marched near the city's central administrative military base, in solidarity with Sderot. Protestors held signs saying, "Residents of Sderot - The People Are With You," and called for the destruction of the Hamas terrorist organization.
At the Tel Aviv protest, an open letter to the people of Sderot written by Jonathan Pollard was read aloud. Pollard, currently in his 21st year of a prison sentence in the U.S. for passing classified information to Israel, expanded on the theme of the government's abandonment of its people over the years:
"...You are fighting not only for the people of Sderot, but also for the State and for the Nation at large. A government which allows your lives to be jeopardized daily by on-going missile attacks is a government which is capable of abandoning every single citizen without exception. If at one time there were those who believed that the victims of government abandonment were limited to certain select individuals or groups that could be ignored, such as the MIAs, Mudhat Yosef, the SLA army, the collaborators, or old folks and sick people, today it is clear that the policy of government abandonment puts every Israeli citizen at risk! We must restore the ideal of Arevut Hadadit (mutual responsibility) to our national consciousness! All for one and one for all!"
A delegation of several Knesset Members visited the hunger strikers Tuesday afternoon. MKs Ruby Rivlin (Likud), Danny Yatom (Labor) and others expressed their support for the cause, but asked the protestors to end their strike. "The hunger strike weakens the justice of your struggle," Rivlin said. "You have done your part, and the Knesset is already holding a discussion today on the issue of the Kassams on Sderot."
Three leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (the Yesha Council) visited Sderot and the strikers yesterday. They met with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, learning the situation and offering ideas for the welfare, safety and recreation of the residents. It was announced around the same time that the government would allocate two million shekels for summer activities for the youth of Sderot and environs.
Alon Davidi, among the initiators of the hunger strike, insisted that it would end only when security and quiet is restored to Sderot. Speaking with Arutz-7 on Wednesday, Davidi said,
"Peretz spoke in the Knesset and called on us to stop our strike, but I can tell him right now: You are welcome to visit us, but we will stop our strike only if you come here with a clear military plan to stop the terrorism of the Hamas government, distance the Kassams from our city, and restore security to our children - and I don't mean by reinforcing the buildings, by retreating from towns, or by holdings summer camps. I'm referring to another Operation Defensive Shield - a massive ground-forces operation inside Gaza."
Former Public Security Minister Uzi Landau (Likud), who resigned from the Cabinet two years ago because of his staunch opposition to the disengagement/expulsion plan, met with the five hunger strikers today. Speaking afterwards with Arutz-7, Landau - who was not elected to the current Knesset - said, "My visit was just like that of any regular citizen who is concerned about the situation and who wants to show solidarity. The people of Sderot are paying the price today for the government's dulled senses and refusal to learn from past mistakes, but soon it will become the struggle of those in Tel Aviv and Raanana, where I live."
Landau recalled that then-Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz warned that "we will make Gaza tremble" if any Kassams are fired towards Israel. "Israel has lost its deterrence power,' Landau said, "and the only trembling in Gaza is their trembling with laughter as they watch us bombard open areas."
"What bothers me most," Landau said, "is the lack of solidarity around the country. People seem to be more concerned over the electricity shortages for their air conditioners than about what is happening to the people of Sderot."
Many children of Sderot continue not to attend school, for fear that a rocket might land in the unreinforced buildings. Just three weeks ago, a rocket smashed into a classroom as the students were about to enter it. Children of the hunger strikers are with them in the protest tent that has been set up outside Peretz's house.
"60% of Sderot's children are in a situation of post-trauma," Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal told the Knesset Education Committee today. "Fear, nightmares, bedwetting - they all need help."
Students of the local Yeshivat Hesder took time off from their studies last night to visit families around the town. One student, Michael, told Arutz-7,
"We printed up a chapter of Psalms - chapter 130 - to be posted on refrigerators. We divided up into pairs, and everyone took a map of the city and their list of assigned blocks, and we just went house to house. We told them that we're all in this together, that we want to help in whatever way we can, etc. People were really very happy, and there was a lot of emotion and a lot of joy, and it was quite moving."
Dozens of Sderot residents also marched part-way towards northern Gaza last night, some of them carrying red cardboard models of Kassam rockets depicting the threat their city faces from the Gaza terrorists. At the same time, dozens of Tel Aviv citizens marched near the city's central administrative military base, in solidarity with Sderot. Protestors held signs saying, "Residents of Sderot - The People Are With You," and called for the destruction of the Hamas terrorist organization.
At the Tel Aviv protest, an open letter to the people of Sderot written by Jonathan Pollard was read aloud. Pollard, currently in his 21st year of a prison sentence in the U.S. for passing classified information to Israel, expanded on the theme of the government's abandonment of its people over the years:
"...You are fighting not only for the people of Sderot, but also for the State and for the Nation at large. A government which allows your lives to be jeopardized daily by on-going missile attacks is a government which is capable of abandoning every single citizen without exception. If at one time there were those who believed that the victims of government abandonment were limited to certain select individuals or groups that could be ignored, such as the MIAs, Mudhat Yosef, the SLA army, the collaborators, or old folks and sick people, today it is clear that the policy of government abandonment puts every Israeli citizen at risk! We must restore the ideal of Arevut Hadadit (mutual responsibility) to our national consciousness! All for one and one for all!"
A delegation of several Knesset Members visited the hunger strikers Tuesday afternoon. MKs Ruby Rivlin (Likud), Danny Yatom (Labor) and others expressed their support for the cause, but asked the protestors to end their strike. "The hunger strike weakens the justice of your struggle," Rivlin said. "You have done your part, and the Knesset is already holding a discussion today on the issue of the Kassams on Sderot."
Three leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (the Yesha Council) visited Sderot and the strikers yesterday. They met with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, learning the situation and offering ideas for the welfare, safety and recreation of the residents. It was announced around the same time that the government would allocate two million shekels for summer activities for the youth of Sderot and environs.