Ashkelon, Israel—
For the next three days, with the help of the United Jewish Communities, and our local Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, a group of American Jewish journalists will get a first-hand look at the economic, social, strategic, emotional and philanthropic issues in play both here in Ashkelon and nearby Sderot.
Ashkelon is Baltimore’s sister city here in Israel.
And in the two months since the last time I visited this beautiful seaside community, one that attracted 250 Baltimoreans to come last December to build a playground, more and more rocket attacks have happened.
Our 72-hour trip started with a “wow” as we all listened to the words of Ashkelon’s Deputy Mayor Levi Shafran
The deputy mayor said that his city has so much to offer Israel society. It is a city at work with a tremendous educational system in place. It is a city of immigrants. It is a city of industry and the arts.
And now, he said with a sigh, it’s a city that is being rocketed.
When the last grad rocket hit a local mall, according to Sigal Ariely, the Ashkelon-Baltimore New Partnership Coordinator, part of the good feeling in this city diminished.
The deputy mayor went so far as to say that Sderot doesn’t really exist as a city anymore. He said that the only people who are there, remain because they cannot afford to leave.
And he wondered out loud “no one is shooting back.”
“My job,” he said, “is to clean up after there is an attack.” A lot of that cleanup comes not retaliation, but in services to take care of the mental aftershocks associated with a rocket attack.”
He said that he doesn’t want to see Ashkelon become a city of shelters like Sderot. Instead, he wants the central government to provide more protection, while monies that it come from organizations like UJC should be given to schools for computers or for the needs of people in post-traumatic stress.
“Money is never enough,” he said. “We want the government to stop the shooting, that’s it. We know that the course this going is heading us towards Sderot.
When asked if the current controversial issues surrounding the Olmert government has triggered an increase in the attacks, the deputy mayor answered that one doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the other.”
My next entry include the opinions of a military expert.
Tomorrow we head to Sderot.