Avi Yehudai’s white Fiat Punto is splattered with shrapnel and his daughter’s bedroom has been destroyed. Cracks are visible in the walls of his house and its front needs rebuilding.
His house, situated among the manicured streets of the Israeli town of Sderot, was hit recently by a Qassam rocket, fired from the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun, 5km away. Fortunately the house was empty.
”The day before we were hit, my 14-year-old daughter became very nervous and said she didn’t want to stay at home. We went to stay with relatives and thank God we did,” said Yehudai.
Afik Zahavi, three, and his grandfather Mordechai Yosepor (49), were not so lucky. They were killed outside a nursery in the town at the end of June by another Qassam, weapons that were regarded as a joke until Hamas engineers worked out how to increase their payload.
Since then some of Yehudai’s neighbours in Rahefet Street have left, others sleep elsewhere at night; everyone takes special precautions.
The Qassam rockets, named after an Arab rebel leader killed by the British in 1935, are crude devices consisting of a steel tube with metal fins. The propellant is a mixture of sugar, oil, alcohol and fertilizer. Their range is up to 8km and they can carry up to 6,8kg of explosives.
Hamas sees them as essential against Israel’s military superiority. Israel has sophisticated defence systems against ballistic missiles but can do nothing to stop the unpredictable Qassams.
More than 300 of the rockets have been fired and about 70 have landed in Sderot, including five in Rehefet Street. While the chances of being hit are small, the fear of the new design is great.
On Rehefet Street, opinion is divided on the plight of the Palestinians. Tamar Trabelski sees no parallel between her fears for her children and the fears of a Palestinian mother. ”The army is only there [in Beit Hanoun] because they were firing the missiles at us. I feel safer knowing that they are there,” she said.
But Sderot mayor Eli Moyal believes that there is no military solution to the rocket issue. ”You can’t have tanks fighting against civilians. It’s a disaster. We need some kind of political solution,” he said.
Amid the demolished factories at the entrance to Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, there are signs placed by a charity called CHF. ”These trees were donated by CHF, please look after them,” they say.
The signs remain, but the trees have long gone along with the majority of the town’s citrus groves, olive trees and vines, all of which could provide cover for a Qassam rocket launcher. They were destroyed by the Israeli army to stop the firing of Qassams.
The damage is random. A road cut here, a house destroyed there. On a mound of rubble between two buildings, a tent had been erected and children were playing inside.
Khalil Zaneen (62) owned the house behind the rubble. He said there were 40 people sheltering in his home as the soldiers laid explosives around his neighbour’s house. ”They would not allow us to leave and when they set the explosives off it was terrifying. The house shook and the children cried,” he said.
Khalil Basel (29), a policeman, said: ”I say stop firing the Qassam rockets. Stop the incursions and let’s go back to the negotiating table. But I don’t think that will work. [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon just wants to invade and destroy.
”Look at the ceasefire last year. Not one rocket fired but the incursions and assassinations continued. In the West Bank there are no Qassam rockets but there are incursions and Palestinians killed.
”When someone takes your home away from you, you don’t just shut up and accept it. Resistance is resistance. But I say enough is enough. Let’s put a stop to it. But do the Israelis ever say enough is enough?” — Â