Life of a family in Sderot under the threat of Qassam rockets

Ya'acov Swisa, unemployed computer technician


I was born in Sderot and have lived here almost all my life. It was fun to grow up here. I always loved the place. When I was a boy, I felt as safe as could be. We didn't even lock our doors at night. I used to wander around the market in Gaza with no fear at all.

Before everything started, about seven or eight years ago, life here was normal. I worked. We weren't well off, but we lived with dignity.

I am disabled. In the past, I used a prosthesis and could get around and work like everyone else. About seven months ago, on November 6, 2007, I was at home with my small son. I went to take the garbage out and then I heard the Color Red siren, which means that a Qassam rocket has been fired. I rushed to get back inside as soon as I could because my son was alone. I walked fast, but then I lost my balance on the stairs. I fell and my left leg got smashed up badly. Since this injury I can't use the prosthesis, because I can't support myself with a healthy leg. I have to use a wheelchair all the time.

After the injury, I was supposed to get all sorts of treatments, but it's very hard for me to get out of the house. I was supposed to have three operations altogether, two even before I got injured and another because of the fall. But I haven’t got them because I need people to take me there and back. I can't get to the clinic by myself because I don't have a car, and I’m afraid to leave the house because I can’t run for cover in the wheelchair if the siren sounds.

I don't have the money for treatments and operations anyway. My disability benefit is barely enough to support us. The brakes on my wheelchair broke a little while ago and I don't have the money to replace them or fix them. How can I prefer to fix the chair or get treatment over giving my kids bread to eat?

Since I stopped using the prosthesis, I haven’t been able to get to work. My wife is also disabled - she has a problem with her eyesight. We used to live off with my salary as a technician. When I was still employed, before the injury, there was a month with a lot of Qassam rockets and my boss gave me unpaid leave for a month. Two rockets had fallen before near the store, making everything shake, and I hadn’t been able to run away. My employer was afraid another rocket would fall there and I would be injured. He said he couldn't afford to pay me compensation if something happened. In any case, business had really dropped in Sderot and he can barely support himself.

Three months ago, I took a taxi to the medical clinic. I went with my wife and kids and we were planning to drop them off at school. When we got to the school, a siren sounded. Lilach got out of the car with the kids, to run with them to a shelter. The driver got out and ran off and was left stuck in the taxi. The kids were shouting, "What about dad?"

Nowadays, it's a big hassle to get out of the house. My wife has to lift me up since I can't move by myself. Since she started lifting me, she got tendonitis. The doctor told her to stop lifting me, but there's no other option. On several occasions, I’ve come home when the children were in school and my wife was being treated at the hospital and have had to wait outside for a few hours, because I can’t get into the house alone.

We find ourselves in a situation where our children are taking care of us, instead of it being the other way round. Our son is the one who risks the rocket fire and goes out to buy bread. Our electricity supply has been disconnected lots of times. We know someone at the electric company and he takes care of us like a guardian angel. He even paid our bill several times with his own money.

When there is a Qassam warning siren, I panic and don't know my left from my right. Even normal people panic, so handicapped people like me obviously suffer even more.

The kids can't go anywhere. During recess at school, the teachers don't let them leave the classroom. If they want to go to the bathroom, they have to go with an escort. They’re only taken to the bathroom in group of four or five kids, so they have to hold it in and it makes their stomachs hurt. Even after school, they can’t leave the house and stay inside almost all day. They don't play outside, they don't play sports. They dream of going out. Our youngest son doesn't even know any other reality. A whole bomb shelter generation has grown up in Sderot.

In Sderot, if you leave the house, you might not come back. The greatest absurdity is that they shoot rockets and it doesn’t do them any good. No one in Israel cares about residents of the south. The state is not interested in all the peripheral areas. No one from my family is willing to visit us in Sderot. A lot of our friends have left. On Independence Day, we’re used to seeing the town lively, but this year you could count the number of people that were out celebrating. Everyone who could has left. Even those who couldn't afford it left, even if they had to sleep in a tent in a public park. Last year there were 25 kids in my eldest son's class. Now there are only 16. People with money have shifted their kids to schools farther away. Some families have been torn apart because they sent the kids to live with relatives so they would be safe.

For the past six months, a man from some kibbutz has been coming about twice a week to help us and bring us groceries. Sometimes he even comes every day. He helps other families in Sderot too. We’re lucky that there are still people who care about us. If I had to go buy bread today, it would be a problem. It would be a scary and dangerous trip and it would take me a whole hour.

A war should be between armies, not between citizens. This war is being waged at the expense of innocent people, children, handicapped people, the elderly. I can't understand how innocent people can be harmed on purpose. We all need to rethink what we’re doing.

I think our life in Sderot isn’t fairly represented by the media. There are still Jews and Arabs living together in the city. There’s an outdoor market and most of the merchants are Arabs. It may take time, but I think that our lives here can return to normal. The state needs to take responsibility and to think about the children born into the Qassam rockets. I hope it won’t let this generation grow up with hatred in their hearts.

We will not leave Sderot. Even today, I love Sderot, in spite of it all. There are incredible people here and it has an atmosphere like no other place. You just step out of the grocery store and people come to help you. It's like the old days. Here we all know each other and take care of each other. If they don’t see me on the street, people call to ask how I am.

Ya'acov Swisa, 40, married and father of two boys, is an unemployed computer technician and resident of Sderot, Israel. The testimony was given to Maayan Geva at the witness' house on 13 March 2008.

I was going to post only a bit of this testimony, but his story is so moving. These rocket attacks have to stop! Each day lives are ruined. No man, woman or child should have to live under these conditions. I will continue to post these reports until the situation changes and the children of Sderot and the Western Negev have Peace!

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