Some of the signs at the Ashkelon protest read, "Stop the Shmassams!" - a reference to a recent remark by Vice Premier Shimon Peres. Peres said that the people of Sderot should not be complaining so strongly about the Kassams attacking their town, and that Israel should categorically inform the Palestinian Authority that, "Kassams, Shmassams, we're staying in Sderot no matter what!"
In the meantime, several rockets hit the Negev city of Sderot, wounding three people with shrapnel (see below).
The protestors also demanded warfare against the terrorists, and not mere protection and reinforcement of shelters.
This was no massive outcry, however. One of the protestors, Meir Dana-Pecard, told Arutz-7, "The truth is, the people of Ashkelon have not yet woken up to what's going on. Just like in Sderot - at first no one took it really seriously, and only when it became a nearly daily affair and took on a genuine life-threatening air did people really begin to protest, with the hunger strike and the like. Here as well: people refuse to believe it. Some say, 'What are we, Sderot? They're only 25,000 people over there, but we're a real city, with 120,000 people, etc.'"
"Only when the rockets hit Tel Aviv will this country really wake up," Dana-Pecard concluded pessimistically.
Many Kassam rockets have been fired northward from Gaza at Ashkelon, Israel's 13th-largest city, over the past several months. Only a few, however, have reached as far as the industrial zone in southern Ashkelon. In the past week, the situation escalated dramatically when two Kassams hit the heart of the city on consecutive nights. On Tuesday night, a rocket landed in a schoolyard just as parents and children were engaged in registration for next year. The next night, one of two Kassams fired northward sent eight Ashkelon residents into a state of shock.
On Thursday, the first day of the IDF's Operation Bashan Oaks - a major ground offensive into Gaza - none of the eight Kassams fired at Israel hit Ashkelon. They landed, instead, in Kfar Aza, Sderot, and near Kibbutz Zikim south of Ashkelon, not far from the electric plant.
Friday's toll: At least seven Kassams have been fired since late last night, with at least five landing in Israel. Among them were two that hit populated areas in the city of Sderot, sending three people to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with shrapnel wounds. Four people were reported suffering from shock.
Earlier today, a rocket hit Kibbutz Saad, causing a number of shock victims and damage to two cars. Another rocket landed near Sderot, damaging a gas station, and yet another one landed between Kibbutz Zikim and Ashkelon.
One Sderot resident, Kineret Rosenfeld, reflects the attitude of many of her neighbors when she says that Prime Minister Olmert and the government acted "maliciously" by waiting for the rockets to hit Ashkelon before responding. "I say this with sorrow, but there is a form of a caste system here," Rosenfeld told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine. "The settlers are Class D citizens, who 'shouldn't be living there anyway and if they get killed it's their own fault'; then come the residents of Sderot, who are Class C, then Ashkelon people who are Class B, and then perhaps the residents of the Tel Aviv area are Class A. Decisions as to whether and how to take military action are made, unfortunately, based on this."
In the meantime, several rockets hit the Negev city of Sderot, wounding three people with shrapnel (see below).
The protestors also demanded warfare against the terrorists, and not mere protection and reinforcement of shelters.
This was no massive outcry, however. One of the protestors, Meir Dana-Pecard, told Arutz-7, "The truth is, the people of Ashkelon have not yet woken up to what's going on. Just like in Sderot - at first no one took it really seriously, and only when it became a nearly daily affair and took on a genuine life-threatening air did people really begin to protest, with the hunger strike and the like. Here as well: people refuse to believe it. Some say, 'What are we, Sderot? They're only 25,000 people over there, but we're a real city, with 120,000 people, etc.'"
"Only when the rockets hit Tel Aviv will this country really wake up," Dana-Pecard concluded pessimistically.
Many Kassam rockets have been fired northward from Gaza at Ashkelon, Israel's 13th-largest city, over the past several months. Only a few, however, have reached as far as the industrial zone in southern Ashkelon. In the past week, the situation escalated dramatically when two Kassams hit the heart of the city on consecutive nights. On Tuesday night, a rocket landed in a schoolyard just as parents and children were engaged in registration for next year. The next night, one of two Kassams fired northward sent eight Ashkelon residents into a state of shock.
On Thursday, the first day of the IDF's Operation Bashan Oaks - a major ground offensive into Gaza - none of the eight Kassams fired at Israel hit Ashkelon. They landed, instead, in Kfar Aza, Sderot, and near Kibbutz Zikim south of Ashkelon, not far from the electric plant.
Friday's toll: At least seven Kassams have been fired since late last night, with at least five landing in Israel. Among them were two that hit populated areas in the city of Sderot, sending three people to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with shrapnel wounds. Four people were reported suffering from shock.
Earlier today, a rocket hit Kibbutz Saad, causing a number of shock victims and damage to two cars. Another rocket landed near Sderot, damaging a gas station, and yet another one landed between Kibbutz Zikim and Ashkelon.
One Sderot resident, Kineret Rosenfeld, reflects the attitude of many of her neighbors when she says that Prime Minister Olmert and the government acted "maliciously" by waiting for the rockets to hit Ashkelon before responding. "I say this with sorrow, but there is a form of a caste system here," Rosenfeld told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine. "The settlers are Class D citizens, who 'shouldn't be living there anyway and if they get killed it's their own fault'; then come the residents of Sderot, who are Class C, then Ashkelon people who are Class B, and then perhaps the residents of the Tel Aviv area are Class A. Decisions as to whether and how to take military action are made, unfortunately, based on this."