International
Kate Shuttleworth / Al Jazeera
ESHKOL REGION, Israel — Residents of southern Israel are not convinced that the current Israeli military operation will bring any reprieve from rocket and mortar fire from Gaza or from the new threat of kidnappings and infiltrations via cross-border tunnels.
Kibbutz Nirim, a mile from the Gaza Strip, is one of many small agricultural communities that dot the Israeli side of the border. And just half a mile from this community of 400 people is an exit hole from a tunnel.
“In general I don’t feel safe. A military operation cannot solve the problem in Gaza,” said Anat Heffetz, 38, a mother of two children. “They are talking about establishing deterrents, but we know it’s bull---- because we’ve lived here for years and years and even when there’s an appearance of calm, we still get Qassam rockets every week.”
Heffetz and her family were among 320 Nirim residents who relocated for more than four weeks to a kibbutz in northern Israel. They returned on Saturday and were enjoying the relative calm during a 72-hour cease-fire.
Benny Gantz, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, urged families to return. But Haffetz believes that is a mistake because they don’t know when the conflict will end.
“Who knows what will happen? We hope it [the cease-fire] will be extended, but I am not very optimistic,” she said.
After Israel signed off on its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, 4,350 residents left the Eshkol region, which shares 25 miles of border with Gaza and seven miles with Egypt and includes Kibbutz Nirim and Kibbutz Magen.
Niki Levy, head of security and emergency services for the Eshkol Regional Council, said that of the 3,350 rockets fired into Israel during the recent conflict, 857 were fired into the Eshkol region. But he confirmed that 2013 was the quietest year he could recall, with 67 rockets fired into the area.
“Since January this year and the beginning of the operation, we had another 60, but it had been a relatively quiet year,” he said.
According to his figures, roughly 60 rockets were fired daily during the previous two Israeli operations, Cast Lead and Pillar of Defense. The daily figure during the latest operation, which has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israeli soldiers, is under 30, he said.
“It’s so quiet now, it’s really hard to imagine how noisy, how thoroughly and utterly noisy it was, because we had artillery on either side of us shooting for hours on end,” said Adele Raemer, one of 80 Nirim residents who have stayed on the kibbutz.
She has developed her own tactics to cope with life under rocket and mortar fire.
“If you look at this stopwatch and set it to 10 seconds, I will tell you when to start and show you how long you have. “Seva adom” means “code red.” So now, seva adom … seva adom … seva adom … boom!”
“That’s how much time you have to take cover,” she said.
Esther Marcus
resident, Kibbutz Alumim
Raemer has adapted her lifestyle to cope with this short window of time. She’s moved her bed into the safe room, a staple since 2012 for all properties within 2.8 miles of Gaza.
Uri Rosset, a resident of Kibbutz Magen and a counterterrorism expert, said the kibbutz was just outside that zone, so the government only just approved paying for safe houses. Rosset said residents in both Nurim and Magen felt betrayed by the government, which says it has located and destroyed 32 tunnels.
“We know that there are tunnels around here, and we know that they still haven’t found all of them, and only two weeks before this operation they decided to cut off soldiers who were posted in the kibbutzim in order to work elsewhere,” he said.
Hamas has called for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the reopening of its seaport before a truce can be met. Israel, meanwhile, wants Hamas to dismantle its arsenal of weapons.
“I have empathy for the people of Gaza,” Rosset said. “But the responsibility lies with their rulers, and I don’t believe Hamas has built one factory since they took over in 2007.”
Missile barrages have become a way of life for Israeli children who live along the border with Gaza. Esther Marcus, 49, lives in Kibbutz Alumim, which has been part of a closed military zone in the past weeks and lies just inland from the Eshkol region. Her book “Code Red” has been helping children deal with the rocket and mortar fire.
A social worker and drama teacher, she has been forced to put her own fears aside while she works with traumatized children. Last week a rocket landed 100 yards from her. “I was driving the car,” she said. “There was an alarm. I had to stop and hit the floor.”
Marcus said Hamas tunnels present a new fear for the children she sees. “The kids are now having dreams of monsters coming out of tunnels,” she said.
Debbie Massel, a social worker at Eshkol Regional Council, said it would be her dream to see children from Gaza and Israel come together. “As a social worker, as a human being, what’s happening in Gaza is heartbreaking,” she said. “I think it’s a tragedy for both of our nations. We could be two nations that could flourish together, and to see that amount of destruction is terrible.”
In Nirim, Heffetz said she believed a diplomatic rather than a military solution was required. The kibbutz has planned to protest for Thursday. It wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Cabinet to acknowledge that the communities in the region are living under continued rocket and mortar fire, with the added dimension of cross-border tunnels.
“I have expectations from my prime minister to take care of my future and my children’s future,” Heffetz said. “It’s not Hamas’ responsibility.”
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