he is said to dwell in the castle of Kronborg, his beard grown down to the floor, and to sleep there until some date when Denmark is in mortal danger, at which time he will rise up and deliver the nation
In a study by Natal, a trauma center for the victims of war and terror, it was discovered that 70% of the kids residing in the town that has been on the receiving end of thousands of rockets in recent years are suffering from at least one symptom of posttraumatic stress. A third of all Sderot's residents suffer from anxiety, and have trouble functioning normally.
Among children this comes in the form of PTSD and Depression.
Shaked and Maor Harush, 11-year-old twins from Sderot, saw a Qassam rocket explode a few feet away for them, setting a car ablaze. Since then, fear has become an everyday presence in their lives.
Shaked suffers from the worst of the trauma. She refuses to leave home without her parents. A slamming door makes her jump. Any conversation about the security situation is out of the question when Shaked is around, and her family knows to avoid words like Qassam and Color Red altogether.
Shaked's young cousin, who lives in the center of the country, was not aware of this little detail. While the two were playing in the yard recently, he yelled out "Color Red, Color Red," sending Shaked running into the house. She locked herself in her room and could not stop crying.
"Her cousin didn't think of it, he didn't know, but Shaked took it hard," her father said. "She is in bad shape. She suffers from anxiety all the time."
Shaked is not alone.
Qassam damage in Sderot in April (Photo: Ze'ev Trachtman)
Maor Harush is doing better than his sister; he speaks about his anxieties. Shaked never does. She has been in therapy for three years, but it hasn't helped – the situation only seems to be getting worse.
"We can't laugh about the situation, we can't talk about it," the twins' father said. "Most of the time she's at home, watching television. The television is her connection to the outside world."
She doesn't visit her friends, her father said, and her school work has slipped; she suffers from attention disorders.
According to the Natal report, 50% of Sderot's kids relive the trauma, and 41% suffer from over-excitation – they are constantly alert, ready for danger, and every little noise shakes them up. Twenty percent of the kids suffer from all the symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and 12% have severe trouble functioning.
"They stop playing, stop being interested in their surroundings, detach themselves from their friends and school," explained Professor Marc Gelkopf, who heads the Natal research team. "One of our newest and most interesting findings is that there is a connection between the symptoms that the parents experience and the ones their children experience. It underlines the importance of family therapy."
Rocket destroys house in Sderot, 2006 (Photo: Amir Cohen)
The study, which followed 518 adult and 570 kids, showed that one in three residents suffers from the disorder, and that one in seven is having trouble functioning due to anxiety.
"When we're talking about people suffering from posttraumatic stress, we're talking about people who wake up in the middle of the night because of nightmares," Gelkopf said. "People who are over alert… who are afraid to go far from their fortified rooms or visit places that remind them of the danger."
Despite the recent calm, Natal has found that nearly 30% of the residents feel threatened. Another 23% take anti-depression or anxiety drugs, or use sleeping pills.
Esther Itiel, 56, has been living in Sderot for 30 years. She is another victim of posttraumatic stress.
"Life in this town was beautiful before the Qassam fire started," she said. "Since then, there hasn't been one night when we could sleep normally. All aspects of life have been disrupted.
"I managed to survive somehow for years, but when a Qassam fell a few meters near my house, I broke down," she said. "I took my daughters and moved to Givat Shmuel, leaving my husband and three other kids behind in Sderot."
In the central town of Givat Shmuel, Itiel received therapy from Natal and the municipality, and graudally managed to regain some of her former self. She agreed to return to Sderot after a shelter was built in her house. Back at home, anxiety hit again.
Qassam hits building in Sderot, 2010 (Photo: Ze'ev Trachtman)
"Any noise from an ambulance, bus or plane makes me jump and triggers the anxiety," she said. "I can't listen to the news, this whole story about the fly-in made me anxious. I'm not happy, I don't laugh, I don't joke. I'm not the mother I used to be."
These days, Itiel rarely leaves home. Sleep evades her. She showers only when there is someone else at home with her – and even then, she does it quickly.
"I'm afraid that it will be like it was during the Qassam fire period," she said. "Then, when the Color Red alarm went off while I was in the shower, I would run to the shelter without clothes on. About a month ago, the alarm went off again. I heard planes flying by and I fainted. They had to take me to the hospital."
Some 6,400 people who are suffering from posttraumatic stress are treated at the municipal mental health center in Sderot. Some 3,500 kids and 500 teachers and staff members get psychological treatment through the town's school system. The Resilience Center, which provides counseling, treats 400 people each year, most of them children and teenagers – and the waiting list for treatment is growing.
"Especially during times of calm, people start feeling the tumult on the inside," said Hila Barzilay, who runs the Resilience Center. "(…) We get kids with serious motor function disorders, kids who weren't allowed to play outside in groups for years. Many residents' relationships have suffered. The situation causes critical damage to all aspects of their lives.
What the Main Lame Stream Media is calling a successful ceasefire is in reality just a lull in the terror. There isn't a week that the rockets attack Israel or an attempt is made to fire into Israel. Yet the media outside of Israel is silent on this. In fact they are reporting that the EU, US, Russia and the UN will IMPOSE a solution upon Israel., A solution that will try to force Israel back to the 1967 borders, the borders Abba Eban called: The Auschwitz Borders.
Abba Eban
"We have openly said that the map will never again be the same as on June 4, 1967. For us, this is a matter of security and of principles. The June map is for us equivalent to insecurity and danger. I do not exaggerate when I say that it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz. We shudder when we think of what would have awaited us in the circumstances of June, 1967, if we had been defeated; with Syrians on the mountain and we in the valley, with the Jordanian army in sight of the sea, with the Egyptians who hold our throat in their hands in Gaza. This is a situation which will never be repeated in history."
- Abba Eban, Israeli Statesman, in Der Spiegel, November 5, 1969
Borders that are impossible to defend the nation. With the deliberate separation into 2 halves of Jerusalem, the Arabs will gain everything they want without giving up any of Israel's demands.
The children of Sderot have only the people of Israel to help them. But that can change. Will you help them? Just a few dollars will give a child the psychiatric help he or she needs. The Sderot Media Center helps hundreds of the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev each day. From their newly opened "Ella Center" that helps the children with their studies in the sciences to the only indoor playground, the first concern of the Sderot Media is the safety of the children of Sderot. Their mission statement tells it all:
The Sderot Media Center mission is to provide Israeli and international news media with on-site film footage and reporting of the kassam rocket attacks and their psychological effects upon Sderot residents. In doing so, we hope to spur international and local involvement with the community of Sderot, both on a financial and social scale, in order to help out the residents of this war-zone region.
Other goals include the following four points:
To forge identification and empathy between the western world and the residents of the western Negev
To initiate community projects that will alleviate the economic and psychological condition of Sderot and western Negev residents
To improve the security situation of Sderot and the western Negev through international awareness of the rocket fire
To create a balance in the news coverage of Israel and promote a pro-Israel attitude in the western and international media
Last night, Wednesday the 23rd of March, was the first time since Operation Cast Lead that an Iranian Grad missile exploded in Be'er Sheba, 40km from Gaza.
Arriving at the scene of the rocket strike Thursday morning, in the Northern neighborhoods of Be'er Sheba, brought me back to the terror scenes in Sderot of the past few years. For several years, rocket attacks were part of my daily routine living and working at the Sderot Media Center. When the Tzeva Adom (Code Red) sounded, I would go to the neighborhoods where the rocket exploded and film the scene. The next day, I would return, documenting the 'the day after, listening to the stories of residents on what occurred to them the day before.
In Be'er Sheba, I saw the same scenes I'd witnessed in Sderot: shattered car windshields; the shrapnel holes making "windows" on the homes; the radius of damage from where the missile exploded; the 'cover up' of the missile hole; like nothing happened and expecting the people to go back to normal; the holes in the iron doors; the Shabbat candles standing among shattered glasses; pictures of Rabbis hanging untouched on what remained of the walls; frightened and excited residents of the damaged or destroyed homes who just want to share their personal experience with the world; hearing story, counting the amount of times I heard the words; Luck, coincidence, and miracles.
Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center
Be'er Sheba resident Chen Saban, a Sapir College student in her early twenties whose house was hit, described how she and her family were lucky enough to reach the secured room on time, saying she never expected her home to be hit. She said it was ironic because she goes to Sapir College, which is only a few km away from Gaza. Chen, who is supposed to get married in the next 3 weeks, is no longer certain about her future in Be'er Sheba and how she ill be able to plan her life living there.
Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center
It was amazing to hear all this because it took me 45 minutes to drive from Sderot to Be'er Sheba, which is 40km from Gaza, with residents having 60 seconds to run for the shelter once the siren goes off. And still the same reaction and comments of the frightened and traumatized people.
Today, the more than 1 million Israelis who live in the range of 40km from Gaza are not feeling as secure as they did yesterday, asking themselves "who is next?"
Yitchak Akli a resident of the Be'er Sheba neighborhood said: "We should learn from
Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center
the experience of 'cast lead'' that this would happen, they have (missiles) and hiding them, to launch and fire them at the right time, on any target in Be'er Sheba. It's a matter of time. They've learned our capabilities and they've learned us".
Since the last "cease fire" 530 rockets and missiles have been fired towards the South Western, past of Israel.
The Iranian Grad missile exploding in Bair-Sheba is a reminder how that a few months ago the Shin-Bet reported that there's a stack of over 5,000 Iranian missiles in Gaza, all of them having a range of 40 KM.
This is especially troubling because, in November 2009, Hamas test-fired a missile test towards the Mediterranean, reaching 60 KM, which is the distance from Northern Gaza to Tel-Aviv.
In November 2010, the ITIC reported that Hamas has missiles with an 80km range.
Almost everyone in the Western Negev knows not it's not "if'" but "when"' the next missile escalation starts, leading to the next Gaza war.
After living in Sderot for the past 5 years, watching the construction of 5,000 new bomb shelters, you don’t have to be a prophet to understand that the highest authorities in Israel know there has not been a permanent end to the rocket fire. Being realistic, Israel has to be prepared for many more years of conflict on the Gaza border.
Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center
While Iran is certainly a threat for Israel, the biggest delegitimization threat for Israel, is with no doubt Gaza. Add to this the uprisings in Egypt and North Africa, bringing to power groups that have already declared they will end the "peace treaty" with Israel.
The harsh response that Israel received from the world media and many governments during and after Cast Lead, after the Flotilla incident, and right up to today is actually a modern-day version of a very old demonization of Jews and Israel. A tremendous effort is being made to delegitimize Israel, with the goal of eliminating the Jewish state. How Israel will deal with this threat?
"In all of the previous wars, starting from the 1956 Suez Operation, through the Six Day War and in the Yom Kippur War as well, the IDF took the fight into enemy territory," Chen recalled. "The security concept was that of fighting the war we choose, and seizing the initiative. But since 1982, after that rally in Rabin Square, Rabin and Peres decided, for political reasons, that the strategy needs to be changed and that we should only go to war when there is no choice - i.e., when the sword is on our neck."
Chen said that since that decision was made, Israel has lost its deterrent capability. "Our enemies understood the dramatic change in Israel's security concept as a position of weakness. In any case, they had ceased threatening us with regular armies and turned instead to the weapon of terror. They murdered hundreds of Jews inside Israel, but controlled the bloodletting so as to enable Israel's leaders to maintain the concept that one does not go to war as long as there is a choice."
"Every Israeli citizen knows that the Israel of today is not the Israel of pre-1982."
Chen said that artillery fire on Gaza is not a proper response to the missile attack on Be'er Sheva. "We are a nation that wants to live, and there is no point in fair play when it comes to terrorists. That is not how terror is defeated. The State of Israel is a sovereign state that needs to formulate a proper strategy. Unfortunately, the strategy today is that if you are fired upon you fire back. We are, in effect, signaling to the enemies that they can continue using the same method in the future, too."
There is great anger in Sderot, a city with more bomb shelters than playgrounds.
Like everyone else on the planet, I have heard about the "complicated" situation in the Middle East my whole life: promises to fix it, hopeful negotiations that crumble behind closed doors, rockets, wars, treaties, stalemates, etc. Round and round it goes until, exasperated, I figure both sides are unwilling to reach the type of tough-but-straightforward agreements that brought peace to Ireland and South Africa, and I give up. "It's complicated" is a Facebook status, not a diplomatic agreement.
I spent the last two weeks in Israel. The trip was free, as it is to any Jew, through a program called "Taglit Birthright." To any students who come from a Jewish background, I suggest checking it out. It is a free trip to Israel, if nothing else.
Last Wednesday I visited Sderot, a town of about 20,000 people in the western Negev desert, less than a mile away from the Gaza strip.
Sderot has been the target of more than 10,000 rockets fired from Gaza since 2000. Gaza is controlled by the militant Islamic group Hamas. Sderot is the only town in the 21st Century where rockets are being continually fired at a civilian population.
To deal with the rocket attacks, the town has a siren that gives residents a 15-second warning to get into a bomb shelter.
Stop for a moment and consider how far you could get in 15 seconds. Could you get to the nearest bathroom? The nearest car? The nearest stairway?
Sderot is the bomb shelter capitol of the world. Every house has a bomb shelter. Apartment buildings have bomb shelters crawling up their sides. Every bus stop is a bomb shelter and others are spaced in between; there is a bomb shelter about 15 seconds away from most places.
If you are a child in Sderot, you should hope you are in school when the rockets come. Older schools have been retrofitted with huge steel shields on their outer walls and roofs. Newer schools are literally giant bomb shelters, their paltry playgrounds nothing but dust and three safe cubes awaiting the siren's call.
Other parts of town have the type of playgrounds we grew up on: ladder up, slide down, monkey bars and the wall with a clear bubble that never made sense. They have painted a castle a nice shade of purple, and made two long concrete snakes look so vibrant and fun, you could almost forget they, too, are bomb shelters. Between 70 to 95 percent of children in Sderot have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
So why are people still living in this god-forsaken place? There are a few reasons. For one, housing is much cheaper there (feel free to guess why). For another, Sderot has one of the most lively and productive music scenes in the Eastern Hemisphere. The town is home to more chart-topping bands than any other in Israel and rivals any in Europe.
But the real reason people stay is because they feel they must. Sderot is internationally recognized as part of Israel. If they leave, if they give up, what happens to the next town? And the next? Rockets from Gaza can hit Israel's economic and cultural centers - Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, respectively.
I saw all this from Israel's side of the border, so I cannot speak with objective moral authority on who is right or wrong, victim or oppressor. I know everyone I talked to in Israel wants peace more than anything, and would give up land if they thought it would achieve it. I also know that people suffer in Gaza and struggle for a homeland in the West Bank.
As a commentator, I am supposed to speak in shoulds and should nots.
No one should have to live like the people of Sderot. That's all I've got.
It's complicated.
Dave Balson is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com
I always allow the people of Sderot to speak for themselves. This is their story, their struggle, their battle. What is happening in Sderot, Beer-Sheva, Ashkelon, the Negev, is the price for living in Israel. For Sderot's residents it is the price of living on the frontier. If they surrender their city, it will only encourage Hamas to conquer the next city, then the one after it. Until they have conquered the whole nation.
You are not on the frontier, the front line in this battle, but you can help. The small donation that you give to the Sderot Media Center goes to help the people, especially the children of Sderot. Just a bit of your spare change will help. To donate click here.
For the last week rockets fired from Gaza have been a daily occurrence. Although they have caused limited damage to property and no one has been hurt or killed. (Frayed nerves and a couple of neurotic cats.) It is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
A Grad rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit an open area near a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon on Friday morning. No physical injuries were reported, although several people suffered shock and required medical attention. A vehicle was also damaged.
Ashkelon had experienced relative quiet following the Cast Lead counterterror operation in Gaza in early 2009.
The attack follows an attack last week that was carried out using an imported rocket more sophisticated than the short-range “Kassam” rockets produced in Gaza. In that case, the rocket failed to explode, and no injuries were reported.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has followed a policy of quick response to attacks from Gaza. Air Force planes have demolished smuggling tunnels and weapons factories in the region following previous rocket attacks.
Sderot is the only town and the Western Negav is the only region in the world, where missiles are fired towards civilian population in the 21st Century.--Sderot Media Center
If you are planning a visit to Israel, plan a side visit to Sderot. You can contact the Sderot Media Center for a tour.
The joy of the Purim Holiday means that even the threat of rockets fired daily from Gaza is not sacred. In fact, Purim becomes more joyous in their face.
Take this story of Purim fun from Sderot.
Purim is a favorite holiday among Jewish children, teenagers and even adults. It is a holiday where we dress up in costumes, eat sweets and make merry. We do all this to remember the salvation that the Jews of Iran experienced thousands of years ago, when they were saved from a nation-wide death sentence.
Since then, every Jewish home celebrates this holiday by giving gifts to the poor, reading the Book of Esther which tells the story of Purim and holding a celebratory feast with family and guests to commemorate the miracle.
The girls of the Sderot Media theater group, "Youth of the Kassam Way" celebrated Purim in their respective Sderot high schools on Sunday. SMC staff paid a special visit to the schools to join in the celebrations. The girls, who were all very excited for the holiday, were dressed up in sparkling and ravishing costumes. Many of the girls were dressed up as fairytale characters. Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, queens and fairies were seen walking around. Some also dressed up as different animals such as bees or butterflies, and of course there were many clowns. The teachers also dressed up, adding to the festivities and excitement. We will not forget to mention the feast we had with the girls, with the tables full of different delicious foods.
Sadly, as usual, the everyday routine of the people of Sderot began with a morning barrage of rockets. In the course of the weekend, five Qassam rockets struck the Western Negev area, and two rockets fell in the Ashkelon region. Today four rockets were fired at the Eshkol region. There were no injuries or damage.
Purim is a holiday characterized by a monumental miracle--an entire nation survived a harsh death sentence designed to obliterate every last man, woman and child. According to the Book of Esther, Haman, a royal vizier to King Ahasuerus set a decree to kill all the Jews in the Persian kingdom. His plans were foiled by Esther, the Jewish Queen and wife to the Persian King Ahasuerus. We remember this miracle with much gratitude.
So too, here in Sderot, we hope for the end of the rockets, so that we can return to normal life and celebrate the Festival of Purim in happiness, joy, and peace.
I pray that the people of Sderot can celebrate the next Purim in peace and joy. I pray that next Purim the only worries that any child of Sderot will have is what costume to wear. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and the other holy places.
I know you, my reader have prayed this prayer too. I know many of you have signed up for the Code Red Alerts, if you haven't you can sign up here. And like always I ask that if you can spare the extra cash to donate to the Sderot Media Center. Just click on the grogger at the bottom of the post and follow the instructions from there. They do great work in Sderot for the people of Sderot.
