A town under siege urges war on Palestinians
Ed O'Loughlin Herald Correspondent in Sderot
June 24, 2006
WHEN Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from inside the Gaza Strip last year, most Israelis hoped they could once and for all forget about the fenced-off Palestinian enclave - most Israelis, but not the people of Sderot.
Only five kilometres from the border with Gaza, Sderot is the only Israeli town within range of the crude Kassam missiles manufactured in Palestinian workshops. Once the Jewish settlements inside Gaza were abandoned it became the chief target for militants seeking to continue their war against Israel.
Since the first of hundreds of Kassams landed on Sderot in March 2002, five people have been killed in the town - including two infants and a 17-year-old girl - and scores injured.
Thousands more have been traumatised, said the town's mayor, Eli Moyal, and still the rockets fall: 300 in the past three weeks, seriously injuring an elderly man and narrowly missing a class of kindergarten children.
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/a-town-under-siege-urges-war-on-palestinians/2006/06/23/1150845378984.html