Gaza and Sderot: “The day after the war we need a new beginning”

Gaza Sderdot

Gaza City and the Israeli city of Sderot are separated by just a few kilometres. A year ago, even while the people of Gaza were living in severe conditions under Israeli blockade, and Sderot was an ongoing target for rocket attacks coming out of the Gaza Strip, a blog was started by two men, one in each place. Since then they have been documenting their experiences and giving us their perspective on events, including those of the last week.

Life must go in Gaza and Sderot is joint blog written by “Peace Man” in Gaza and “Hope Man” in Sderot. The two men were introduced by Danny Gal, who works for an NGO dedicated to addressing the effects of the Middle East conflict, and they have been blogging since January 2008:

This blog is written by 2 friends. … There is ongoing violence between Israel and Gaza which has intensified greatly since October 2000. Many have been killed and many have been injured. The media coverage on both sides has been extremely biased. Our Blog is written by 2 real people living and communicating on both sides of the border.

In his most recent post, Peace Man says:

Since the operation started in Gaza Strip, more than 300 people killed in two days and two hundred missing and about 160 were in critical condition. Israel destroyed all the police station and all the Government centers. police and civilians and children who [were] killed in this operation.

It is hard to describe what is going on in Gaza , a terrible disaster, where the aircraft do not distinguish between civilians and military and children.
At this moment there are tanks in the around Gaza in preparation for the invasion of the Gaza Strip

I am asking the international community to stop what is going on in Gaza I hope to return to ceasefire and move away from violence
Because violence will bring more violence
I will update you with the situation

Hope Man gives us his perspective:

Many people have left Sderot and I estimate less than 50% of the people remain. Very few people are walking in the streets and no children are seen anywhere.

The war was a great mistake, however it is no wonder that so many people in Israel support it. The ongoing reality of rockets falling in Sderot and other places for 8 years is a terrible reality. Many people of our region have left it for good over the years. Bringing up children in such a reality seems almost abusive and certainly irresponsible.
There is a feeling in most of the Israeli society, that there was no choice but to attack Gaza and stop the rockets once and for all. This is an expected human reaction to the on going situation.

With that said, I personally think it is a terrible mistake that could have been avoided. For 5 months there was an almost complete cease fire. Instead of taking advantage of this long period of quiet to reach a long term agreement, both sides spent their time preparing for this war by planning and arming. No serious efforts were made to start a dialog. The siege by Isreal continued and the smuggling of arms by the Hamas continued. It was a cease fire but only to prepare for the next terrible round which we are experiencing this very moment.

I am very pessimistic at the moment. My fear is that a ground attack is coming and that much more pain is still ahead. Eventually some kind of agreement will be achieved. I hope it will happen soon, I fear it will not.

Hope Man and I talk every day. We support each other and worry for each others well being. I am in contact with others in Gaza and share my situation while hearing of theirs. Much fear and pain on both sides.

What me and others are doing is continuing the dialog with friends in Gaza. We are working to widen and deepen this dialog with more people on both sides. The day after the war we want to start finding ways to work together and create a normality. We are only several kilometers apart and that will never change. It is extremely important to widen our dialog and create trust between those that are willing to talk. To share our stories, fears and hopes.The day after the war we need a new beginning. Let's start planting seeds of humanity and trust now.

Recently the French-German cultural television station ARTE undertook a project called Gaza Sderot in which short videos were shot by Israeli and Palestinian teams on a daily basis for two months, following six people from Gaza and six from Sderot. You can see the results here.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

12 comments

  • […] Hat tip to Global Voices. […]

  • Ivan

    Great post, Ayesha. Thanks for bringing this one to our attention. Such a terribly sad story, somehow it’s harder to read about people trying to maintain friendships under such conditions than it is to read rants and anger. Thanks for your great work.

  • Beautiful piece. Linking to it from my blog.

  • Nathan

    Israel committing a Holocaust on the Palestinians thats their problem. Blocking food and aid to people is a crime and they will fall if they continue.

  • […] “Gaza City and the Israeli city of Sderot are separated by just a few kilometres. A year ago, … And, an amazing site that brings the last quote to vivid life! […]

  • audley

    thanks for your guannmonnews. keep talking. Audley from Wales

  • audley

    god bless. I want to show your blog to my wife before i go to sleep on our untroubled hillside in west wales. audley

  • What I don’t understand about all of this is why Isreal wants to keep-up this attack. Hamas has said countless times they will stop if Isreal stops attacking Gaza.Isreal says they have a right to defend themselves,but what they are doing to the Palestinean people is more monstous than anything Hamas did to them.

  • […] Posted in Citizen Media, Cyber-Activism, Global Issues by mwisniew on January 5th, 2009 A great article by Global Voices highlights a blog written by two men; one living in Sderot, Israel and the other in Gaza City. The […]

  • Corey Thruston Brown

    Wow… I never thought I will see this day. I live in the US. And I have alway put my trust in GOD. But I feel something very bad is about to happen…. and all I can’t stop thinking about is Iran and Russ. nuking us. 09 is going to be a bad year. I don’t know when… but with in the next few years, WW3 is going to happen. 2012 is not the end… but the end of our age. I feel Obama is going to make a wrong choice and put us in the middle of all this. So right now I’m keeping my faith in GOD, because no matter the outcome he is going to look out for his people.

    cbesco82@gmail.com

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.

Receive great stories from around the world directly in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the best of Global Voices!

Submitted addresses will be confirmed by email, and used only to keep you up to date about Global Voices and our mission. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Newsletter powered by Mailchimp (Privacy Policy and Terms).

* = required field
Email Frequency



No thanks, show me the site