The rockets may not strike as often these days, but residents of this working-class town say they can't shake the anxiety that comes with living in Israel's most frequently bombed city.
Pedestrians strolling downtown keep an eye out for the nearest concrete-reinforced bus-stop shelter in case public loudspeakers crackle with a 15-second warning to dive for cover. Many motorists forgo seat belts so they can ditch vehicles quickly.
A playground is equipped with 5-foot-wide concrete pipes that are brightly painted to look like giant caterpillars but double as children's bomb shelters.
"There is really no sense of security here at all," said Merilin Timsit, a 29-year-old mother of two.
Last month, the Israeli government said it was on the cusp of a technological breakthrough that would put such fears and precautions in the past. A new anti-rocket defense system, called Iron Dome, was presented as a high-tech umbrella that would allow Israelis to go about their lives while short-range rockets fired from Palestinian territories or Arab neighbors were blasted out of the sky.
But despite promising results in a much-touted test in January, Iron Dome so far has heightened as many tensions as it was supposed to relieve. Critics say the technology is not fast enough to work in cities such as Sderot, which is only a mile from militant strongholds in the Gaza Strip.
Some officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, question the steep cost: as much as $1 billion for development and nationwide deployment.
Others warn against seeking technological solutions for threats better handled diplomatically.
"It's no silver bullet," said Yiftah Shapir, head of the military balance project at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies. "In fact, it's not going to solve any of our problems."
Military officials this month began hinting that Iron Dome's initial deployment this summer would be smaller than expected and would focus on protecting military installations rather than Sderot, which many assumed would be the first town to benefit.
Sderot grocery store owner David Turjeman, 48, fumed at what many see as government backpedaling.
"If it's not deployed, I'm going to sell my business and leave Sderot," said the father of three, whose house was damaged in 2008 by one of the 6,000 rockets and mortar shells fired at Sderot over the last four years. "I'm not willing to go through that again. . . . I feel helpless."
Source: LA Times | Edmund Sanders
Comments |  RSS |
|
