SDEROT, Israel -- On the surface, life in this Israeli town of 24,000 looks peaceful. The quiet streets, with intersections marked by neat traffic circles, each decorated with a charming sculpture, seem sedate under the harsh sun of Israel's Negev desert in the south of the country. Agricultural fields in the distance add to a sense of pastoral peace. Suddenly, the Red Dawn warning system jolts Sderot back into the awful reality of life here: Another Qassam rocket has been fired from nearby Gaza. The entire town has 15 seconds to seek shelter or risk death. A moment later, the terrifying explosion shakes everyone, dealing another blow to the shattered nerves of Sderot's despairing residents. Unless you follow developments in the Middle East very closely, you may think rocket attacks on Israeli civilians ended when the fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon stopped. That, however, is not the case. The rockets that started raining down five years ago continue to fall, almost every day in and around Sderot, which lies less than one mile from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza strip. "It's terrible here," says 34-year-old Avidan Ederi, who saw a Qassam rocket land just five yards from his front door.
In One Israeli Town, the Rocket Attacks Continue
