Seeing the Gaza Situation First-hand

This past Sunday my program took us all to Sderot, a southern city in Israel that was repeatedly in the news during the recent Operation Cast Lead (the War with Gaza this past December/January). Sderot, along with Askhelon, another Israeli city, received the brunt of the thousands of rockets fired from within the Gaza Strip by Hamas. Sderot is a small city, with a population of about 20,000. The city is really quite nice, with beautiful trees and flowers blooming everywhere. Yet immediately one notices something very different about this city. There are small bomb shelters everywhere--literally everywhere. All the bus stops function as bomb shelters, many homes have their own bomb shelters in their yards, and even playgrounds double as bomb shelters. One of the playgrounds we visited had a large, funky caterpillar-looking structure that children can run through and hide in. Yet this caterpillar also functions as a bomb shelter. This is just the way of life for the residents of Sderot--a generation of children are being born into this. This is their reality--they know no other. The warning system can sound at any moment (the words "Tzeva Adom, Tzeva Adom" (Code Red) are blared throughout the city, and residents have 15 seconds to run to safety. 15 seconds. The rockets are detected through heat sensors that are set up around Gaza. While we are now in the midst of a "cease-fire", there have been about 200 rockets fired into Israel since the cease-fire began 5 months ago. There is always the possibility of a "Tzeva Adom",but thank god we did not have to witness that. Sderot is less than one mile away from Gaza. From a checkpoint we could see the Gaza Strip. One immediately notices buildings that have been destroyed, yet right behind these buildings are huge skyscrapers. While their citizens suffer, members of Hamas' live comfortably in new, modern buildings. This is where most of the international aid money sent to Gaza goes to. In the distance one can witness a large power plant in Ashkelon (remember, it's an Israeli city). This power plant provides 70% of the electricity and power to residents of Gaza. Humanitarian crisis?? At the Sderot police station we saw a few hundred of the 10,000 Qassam rockets Hamas' has launched into Israel in the past few years.
While in Sderot we heard two Israeli peace activists speak to us. They were against the War and Israeli's offensive. I understand what they are saying--it breaks my heart to see so many innocent Palestinians suffer. Yet, what is the Israeli government supposed to do when Hamas' stores and fires rockets from mosques and schools and uses their own people as human shields? It's a massive problem--something I can't foresee a solution to.
We also went to an area in between Ashkelon and Ashdod, where the residents of Gush Katif--the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza--have been living for the past almost 4 years since the Israeli government dismantled the settlement. We talked to a few of the people who lived there. They were all extremely, extremely right-wing (talking about how this is their land, and the Palestinians should all go back to where they came from--"There is plenty of room in Iran or Iraq" They do not believe in a two state solution--just one state for the Jews), so our discussions got quite heated. Yet that is what makes all of this so divisive, controversial, and interesting. Again, I feel so conflicted. I understand some of their points of view. It must be quite traumatic to be uprooted from your home, and watch your home and your neighborhood destroyed. Yet at the same time many of these settlers literally fought tooth-and-nail the IDF soldiers who were merely following orders. The Palestinians need a place to live too--why is living in Israel proper not enough for them?
Yesterday Leora and I went with my ex-boyfriends's brother (!) and joined activists from the Movement to Free Gilad Schalit, the Kibbutz Movement and the Im Tirzu student organization at a protest rally in an attempt to pressure Hamas to allow the Red Cross to visit the captive 22-year-old soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit an IDF soldier who was kidnapped 3 years ago by Palestinian militants in a cross border raid from the Gaza Strip. The Red Cross has not been allowed to see him since his abduction. Hamas has demanded Israel release 450 prisoners in exchange for Shalit. Protesters tried to block the three crossings into Gaza - Erez, Karni and Kerem Shalom. I was at Kerem Shalom--one of the most southern crossings with Gaza and the place where Shalit was captured from. I was literally right next to the border..the wall was right there. There were about 200 people there. We chanted chants in Hebrew stating that "Gilad still lives" and demanding that Hamas let him go. For the most part though, we just sat in the hot sun in an attempt to stop trucks from passing through to Gaza with humanitarian aid. Since Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza in June 2007, Israel has allowed only humanitarian aid to enter the area. It has also linked passage of non-humanitarian goods into Gaza with the release of Schalit. We were able to keep 100 trucks laden with goods from entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom. A large tractor was set up in front of all the trucks. Signs were everywhere proclaiming support for Shalit and demanding that Hamas allow the Red Cross to see him. Even truck drivers could be seen wearing Gilad Schalit T-shirts and outwardly proclaiming their support for the protest. Shalit's father visited Kerem Shalom during the morning and thanked us for coming out. Of course I didn't understand a word of what was said during this protest, but that was really besides the point. I got the jist. It was quite peaceful, nothing crazy happened. To be honest, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into when I went there! It was an extremely right-wing thing we did, but what an experience. Shalit is 1 month younger than me. I can't imagine the terror of being held captive by myself by Hamas with no contact with the outside world and no end in sight.
On a lighter note, last Thursday I went to the Jerusalem biblical zoo with Leora and Dan. The zoo is on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is really quite a nice zoo with a beautiful view of the hills of Jerusalem. It was just like any zoo--with monkeys, tigers, lions, bears, penguins (yes..penguins in Israel!). The only thing biblical about it was that they posted bible quotes about the animals. Alas, no bible quote at the penguin exhibit!! A really pleasant day.
I also bought a hookah! I have enjoyed smoking hookah here--it's quite relaxing. I have never actually put one together or set one up myself, so I don't know how much I will actually use it at home (granted I can even figure it out in the first place) but I figured it's a pretty cool souvenir.