Israeli resident tells of life under fire
By:
Eli Dile
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: News
When the people of Sderot hear the alarm, they know they have no more than 15 seconds to make it to the safety of a bomb shelter before the rockets hit.
Israeli photojournalist Noam Bedein moved to Sderot a year and a half ago with the intention of showing the world the fear that the people of Sderot live in daily.
Sderot, an Israeli town, is constantly victim to Qassam rocket attacks launched by militants because of its location less than a mile from the border of Gaza.
Bedein gave a presentation on Sderot yesterday in the William Pitt Union.
His photos of the attacks' damage to the town are currently on display in the Kimbo Art Gallery.
"The Qassam Rockets have two purposes: to kill and to traumatize as many civilians as possible," Bedein said.
Since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, 4,000 rockets have been launched into Israel, Bedein added.
So far, 13 people have died and 300 have been injured.
Bedein's photos show homes destroyed by rockets, weeping children and empty rocket shells lying on Sderot's streets.
He said bomb shelters are the only protection the people of Sderot have from the rockets. They are found all across the town.
"Right next to the playground you see a bomb shelter," he said.
The rocket attacks are especially damaging to children, who have difficulty coping with the reality of possible attacks every day.
Children count down from 15 to drown out the noise of the blasts. "When they get to zero, they start singing out loud so they won't hear the explosion of the rockets," he said.
Bedein is the director of the Sderot Media Center, an organization that "brings the human story behind the headlines," of Sderot and the Western Negev region, according to the group's website.
In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip and evacuated 9,000 civilians living there.
This was a unilateral decision meant to give the Palestinian Authority the ability to solidify its control over the Palestinian territories, according to CMU history professor and Middle East expert Laurie Eisenberg.
Israeli photojournalist Noam Bedein moved to Sderot a year and a half ago with the intention of showing the world the fear that the people of Sderot live in daily.
Sderot, an Israeli town, is constantly victim to Qassam rocket attacks launched by militants because of its location less than a mile from the border of Gaza.
Bedein gave a presentation on Sderot yesterday in the William Pitt Union.
His photos of the attacks' damage to the town are currently on display in the Kimbo Art Gallery.
"The Qassam Rockets have two purposes: to kill and to traumatize as many civilians as possible," Bedein said.
Since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, 4,000 rockets have been launched into Israel, Bedein added.
So far, 13 people have died and 300 have been injured.
Bedein's photos show homes destroyed by rockets, weeping children and empty rocket shells lying on Sderot's streets.
He said bomb shelters are the only protection the people of Sderot have from the rockets. They are found all across the town.
"Right next to the playground you see a bomb shelter," he said.
The rocket attacks are especially damaging to children, who have difficulty coping with the reality of possible attacks every day.
Children count down from 15 to drown out the noise of the blasts. "When they get to zero, they start singing out loud so they won't hear the explosion of the rockets," he said.
Bedein is the director of the Sderot Media Center, an organization that "brings the human story behind the headlines," of Sderot and the Western Negev region, according to the group's website.
In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip and evacuated 9,000 civilians living there.
This was a unilateral decision meant to give the Palestinian Authority the ability to solidify its control over the Palestinian territories, according to CMU history professor and Middle East expert Laurie Eisenberg.
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