Last weekend, I went on a jeep trek with my environment class. It was mostly off-roading, which was cool at the beginning. It reminded me of off-roading in Morocco, but this time we continued for hours and hours! My neck didn't feel great at the end. Atar, the driver, said we shouldn't wear seatbelts during offroading. We saw some cool things. Most of the day we were in the west bank...we saw the wall and learned how to distinguish Israeli settlements from Palestinian settlements (red roofs from flatter, white roofs). We saw some tanks on the roads and did a small hike along a stream (unlikely to find in the desert!) Later, we saw a beautiful view of the dead sea from the west bank side with the Jordanian mountains in the background, which looks very different from the views I've seen before. Our guide pointed out the places the dead sea scrolls were found. That night, we had a picnic/hot dog bbq between the jeeps in a pretty area between tall gorges. As we drove back to Tel Aviv, we used strong flashlights (or panas in Hebrew) to look for animals. We were unsuccessful.
On Wednesday I went to Sderot. Long story short, Lauren knows someone from the Jewish Agency who is on the board of TAU and was going down there to visit a friend and offered to take us. So Lauren, Sara, Dan and I piled into John's car and we drove the short drive (less than an hour) down to Sderot. Sderot is mentioned in the media all the time...this is the town that gets hits with rockets from Gaza. Ofer, John's friend who lives in Sderot, showed us around and told us that some days they get up to 65 rockets shot into the streets of their small town. (There has only been one fatal rocket in the past year, though.) A siren goes off and they have 15 seconds to get to a shelter. Ofer took us to a small hill from which we could see Gaza--it's so close. There is a balloon-like machine in the air in between this hill and Gaza which detects rockets. By the height of the rocket it predicts where it will land, and the sirens go off accordingly. Afterwards, we went to the police station where Ofer showed us the pile of 200 rockets they kept. Each one is labeled with the date and place it fell in hope that there will eventually be an investigation and they will have evidence. The first thing I noticed driving around Sderot is the lack of people in the streets. It was the middle of the day, and people were probably going about their activities, but the residents are so used to hiding inside that they are not accustomed to being able to walk around outside. We went to a playground in the town where there are these huge concrete tube-like things painted with fun colors like snakes. In Hebrew, it is written: "In case of siren, enter the snake for safety." These toys serve as rocket shelters. Ofer told us about the people of Sderot who sleep in one room, shower together, and go to the bathroom with the door open in fear that a rocket will come and they will be separated from their family. Most have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and one can only imagine the effects the rockets have upon the kids, parents, and everyone living there. People are living in hell both in Gaza and in Sderot, and it is painful to experience even second hand.
On Wednesday I went to Sderot. Long story short, Lauren knows someone from the Jewish Agency who is on the board of TAU and was going down there to visit a friend and offered to take us. So Lauren, Sara, Dan and I piled into John's car and we drove the short drive (less than an hour) down to Sderot. Sderot is mentioned in the media all the time...this is the town that gets hits with rockets from Gaza. Ofer, John's friend who lives in Sderot, showed us around and told us that some days they get up to 65 rockets shot into the streets of their small town. (There has only been one fatal rocket in the past year, though.) A siren goes off and they have 15 seconds to get to a shelter. Ofer took us to a small hill from which we could see Gaza--it's so close. There is a balloon-like machine in the air in between this hill and Gaza which detects rockets. By the height of the rocket it predicts where it will land, and the sirens go off accordingly. Afterwards, we went to the police station where Ofer showed us the pile of 200 rockets they kept. Each one is labeled with the date and place it fell in hope that there will eventually be an investigation and they will have evidence. The first thing I noticed driving around Sderot is the lack of people in the streets. It was the middle of the day, and people were probably going about their activities, but the residents are so used to hiding inside that they are not accustomed to being able to walk around outside. We went to a playground in the town where there are these huge concrete tube-like things painted with fun colors like snakes. In Hebrew, it is written: "In case of siren, enter the snake for safety." These toys serve as rocket shelters. Ofer told us about the people of Sderot who sleep in one room, shower together, and go to the bathroom with the door open in fear that a rocket will come and they will be separated from their family. Most have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and one can only imagine the effects the rockets have upon the kids, parents, and everyone living there. People are living in hell both in Gaza and in Sderot, and it is painful to experience even second hand.
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