Also, if interested in the pdf file of the story then let me know. The price is 35 shekels for the pdf file. All prices here are in shekels and if want in dollars will have to be converted to the rate of the day of purchase. Also, if want the book form there will be a charge for mailing envelope for the book, shipping charge also and all will be converted.
Mitzi and The Talking Door is a very cute and educational children's story and is a nice gift to have.
For those that have never heard of Sderot or what is happening there I decided to copy some information for you to be able to read and understand their situation and why it is so important to help them out in anyway you can. They have been suffering long enough and even if it is alittle bit that is ok, because a little bit is better than nothing at all. So, glance through what is here and decide if you want to help or not.
Sderot
Sderot (Hebrew: שְדֵרוֹת) is a western
Negev city in the Southern
District of Israel. According to the Israel
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2011 the city had a total
population of 24,000.[1]
The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket
attacks from the Gaza Strip for more than 10
years,almost every day.
Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza (the closest point is 840 meters).[2] The constant barrage of rocket attacks on the city has killed 13 Israelis, wounded dozens, caused millions of dollars in damage and profoundly disrupted daily life.[3] The frequent air-raid sirens and explosions of incoming projectiles have caused severe trauma. From mid-June 2007 to mid-February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot and the western Negev, an average of three or four each a day.[4] In the first half of 2011, over 160 rockets were fired at Sderot.[5]
Sderot received a symbolic name, after the numerous avenues and standalone rows of trees planted in the Negev, especially between Beersheba and Gaza, to combat desertification and beautify the arid landscape. Like many other localities in the Negev, Sderot's name has a green motif that symbolizes the motto "making the desert bloom," a central part of Zionist ideology.[10]
School in Sderot, early 1950s
In the 1961 census, the percentage of North African immigrants, mostly from
Morocco,
was 87% in the town, whilst another 11% of the residents were immigrants from Kurdistan.[11]
In the 1950s, the city continued to absorb a large number of immigrants from
Morocco and Romania.
It reached local council
status in 1958.
Sderot absorbed another large wave of immigrants during the Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, doubling its population. In 1996, it was declared a city.
In March 2008, the population declined as families left the city in desperation. The mayor said the population had dropped by 10%-15%, while aid organizations said the figure was closer to 25%. Many of the families that remained were those who could not afford to move out or are unable to sell their homes.[12]
In May 2011, the British Ambassador to Israel visited Sderot and met with Mayor David Buskila, who described the suffering of children in both Sderot and Gaza:
A number of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were resettled in Sderot beginning in 1997 after cooperating with the Shin Bet.[13]
Hollandia International, founded in 1981, a company that manufacturers and exports high-end mattresses, moved its sole manufacturing center to Sderot 11 years ago. Following the rocket attacks, Hollandia has been forced to relocate.[15]
Sderot is the first location in Israel to offer WiMAX services, with a WiMAX service for educational institutions initiated on January 8, 2009 by the 012 Smile ISP and the communications ministry.[16]
The Osem plant in Sderot, opened in 1981, is the region's major employer, with 480 workers. 170 products are manufactured there, including Bamba, Bisli, Mana Hama instant noodle and rice dishes, instant soup powders, shkedei marak, ketchup and sauces.[17]
The Menorah Candle factory located in Sderot exports Hanukkah candles all over the world.[18]
Nestlé maintains a research and development facility in Sderot,[19] established in 2002. Its production facilities for breakfast cereals are also located in Sderot.[20]
Sapir Academic College, Sderot
According to CBS, there are 14 schools and 3,578 students in the city. They
are spread out as eleven elementary schools and 2,099 elementary school
students, and six high schools and 1,479 high school students. 56.5% of 12th
grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate in 2001. Sapir Academic
College[22]
and the Hesder Yeshiva of
Sderot are located in Sderot. All schools in the city and 120 bus stops have
been fortified against missile attacks.[23]
Harp sculpture, Sderot town
square
Several popular bands have been formed by musicians who practiced in Sderot's
bomb shelters as teenagers.[25][26][27]
Because Sderot is a poor, immigrant town with high unemployment experiencing a
dramatic musical success as bands blend international sounds with the music of
their Moroccan immigrant parents, it has been compared to Liverpool in the
sixties.[28][29]
Among the notable bands are Teapacks [30]
Knesiyat Hasekhel and
Sfatayim.[31]
Well-known musicians from Sderot include Shlomo Bar, Kobi Oz, Haïm
Ulliel and Smadar Levi. The winner of
Israeli version of "American Idol" 2011 was Hagit
Yaso, a Sderot local singer from Ethiopian origin.
Israeli poet Shimon Adaf was born in Sderot,[24] as well as the actor and entertainer Maor Cohen. Adaf dedicated a poem to the city in his 1997 book Icarus' Monologue.
In 2007, documentary filmmaker Laura Bialis immigrated from California to Sderot "to find out what it means to live in a never-ending war, and to document the lives and music of musicians under fire."[32] Her film Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone focuses on young musicians living under the daily threat of Qassams.[33][34][35]
"Someone has been wounded" – Drawing by a 7-year
old Sderot resident
Sderot lies one kilometer from the Gaza Strip and town of Beit
Hanoun. Since the beginning of the Second Intifada in
October 2000, the city has been under constant rocket fire from Qassam rockets launched
by Hamas and Islamic
Jihad.[36]
Despite the imperfect aim of these homemade projectiles, they have caused deaths
and injuries, as well as significant damage to homes and property, psychological
distress and emigration from the city. The Israeli government has installed a
"Red Color" (צבע אדום)
alarm system to warn citizens of impending rocket attacks, although its
effectiveness has been questioned. Citizens only have 15 seconds to reach
shelter after the sounding of the alarm. Thousands of Qassam rockets have been
launched since Israel's
disengagement from the Gaza Strip in September 2005.
In May 2007, a significant increase in shelling from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents.[37] By November 23, 2007, 6,311 rockets had fallen on the city.[38] Yediot Ahronoth reported that during the summer of 2007, 3,000 of the city's 22,000 residents (consisting mostly of the city's key upper and middle class residents) left for other areas, out of Qassam rocket range. Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak organized a series of relief programs for residents unable to leave.[39] On December 12, 2007, after more than 20 rockets landed in the Sderot area in a single day, including a direct hit to one of the main avenues, Sderot mayor Eli Moyal announced his resignation, citing the government's failure to halt the rocket attacks.[40] Moyal was persuaded to retract his resignation.
In January 2008, the Jewish Community Relations Council
of New York organized a display of 4,200 red balloons outside the United Nations
building.[42]
Each balloon represented a Qassam rocket that had
been fired into Sderot,[43]
where for years the town and its surrounding area have been under near-constant
bombardment by thousands of rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza.[44]
Consul David Saranga, who
conceptualized the display, said he used the balloons as an opportunity to call
upon the international community to stop ignoring what’s happening in Israel.[45]
The balloon display made headlines in New York City papers as
well as international publications.[46]
Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza (the closest point is 840 meters).[2] The constant barrage of rocket attacks on the city has killed 13 Israelis, wounded dozens, caused millions of dollars in damage and profoundly disrupted daily life.[3] The frequent air-raid sirens and explosions of incoming projectiles have caused severe trauma. From mid-June 2007 to mid-February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot and the western Negev, an average of three or four each a day.[4] In the first half of 2011, over 160 rockets were fired at Sderot.[5]
History
Sderot was founded in 1951 as a transit camp for Kurdish, Morrocan and Persian Jewish immigrants who lived in tents and shacks before permanent housing was completed in 1954.[6] It was built on semi-arid lands, that was farm land associated with the Palestinian Arab village of Najd[7] which was located a few miles to the south of Sderot. On 13 May 1948, Najd was occupied by the Negev Brigade as part of Operation Barak, and the villagers were "driven out". [8] In 1956, Sderot was recognized as a local council.[9]Sderot received a symbolic name, after the numerous avenues and standalone rows of trees planted in the Negev, especially between Beersheba and Gaza, to combat desertification and beautify the arid landscape. Like many other localities in the Negev, Sderot's name has a green motif that symbolizes the motto "making the desert bloom," a central part of Zionist ideology.[10]
Sderot absorbed another large wave of immigrants during the Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, doubling its population. In 1996, it was declared a city.
In March 2008, the population declined as families left the city in desperation. The mayor said the population had dropped by 10%-15%, while aid organizations said the figure was closer to 25%. Many of the families that remained were those who could not afford to move out or are unable to sell their homes.[12]
In May 2011, the British Ambassador to Israel visited Sderot and met with Mayor David Buskila, who described the suffering of children in both Sderot and Gaza:
"Believe me that I feel bad for my children, for the children that live here in Sderot, but I also feel pain for the children that live in the other side of the border in Gaza ... This situation that the children from this place and the other place is because of the behaviour of the leaders of the terror organisations. We can create another quality of life, it is so close."[2]
[edit] Demographics
According to CBS, in 2001 the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.8% Jewish, without significant Arab population. There were 9,500 males and 9,700 females. The age distribution of the city was as follows: 36.5% 19 years of age or younger, 16.2% between 20 and 29, 19.6% between 30 and 44, 14.3% from 45 to 59, 3.8% from 60 to 64, and 9.5% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate in 2004 was 0.7%.A number of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were resettled in Sderot beginning in 1997 after cooperating with the Shin Bet.[13]
[edit] Economy
In 2008, the average wage for a salaried worker in Sderot was NIS 5,261.[14]Hollandia International, founded in 1981, a company that manufacturers and exports high-end mattresses, moved its sole manufacturing center to Sderot 11 years ago. Following the rocket attacks, Hollandia has been forced to relocate.[15]
Sderot is the first location in Israel to offer WiMAX services, with a WiMAX service for educational institutions initiated on January 8, 2009 by the 012 Smile ISP and the communications ministry.[16]
The Osem plant in Sderot, opened in 1981, is the region's major employer, with 480 workers. 170 products are manufactured there, including Bamba, Bisli, Mana Hama instant noodle and rice dishes, instant soup powders, shkedei marak, ketchup and sauces.[17]
The Menorah Candle factory located in Sderot exports Hanukkah candles all over the world.[18]
Nestlé maintains a research and development facility in Sderot,[19] established in 2002. Its production facilities for breakfast cereals are also located in Sderot.[20]
[edit] Local government
In 2010, after a decline in charitable donations, the municipality revealed that it was on the verge of bankruptcy.[21][edit] Education
[edit] Culture
An unusually high ratio of singers, instrumentalists, composers and poets have come from Sderot.[24]
Israeli poet Shimon Adaf was born in Sderot,[24] as well as the actor and entertainer Maor Cohen. Adaf dedicated a poem to the city in his 1997 book Icarus' Monologue.
In 2007, documentary filmmaker Laura Bialis immigrated from California to Sderot "to find out what it means to live in a never-ending war, and to document the lives and music of musicians under fire."[32] Her film Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone focuses on young musicians living under the daily threat of Qassams.[33][34][35]
[edit] Rocket fire from Gaza
In May 2007, a significant increase in shelling from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents.[37] By November 23, 2007, 6,311 rockets had fallen on the city.[38] Yediot Ahronoth reported that during the summer of 2007, 3,000 of the city's 22,000 residents (consisting mostly of the city's key upper and middle class residents) left for other areas, out of Qassam rocket range. Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak organized a series of relief programs for residents unable to leave.[39] On December 12, 2007, after more than 20 rockets landed in the Sderot area in a single day, including a direct hit to one of the main avenues, Sderot mayor Eli Moyal announced his resignation, citing the government's failure to halt the rocket attacks.[40] Moyal was persuaded to retract his resignation.
[edit] Solidarity gestures
In a gesture of solidarity, El Al (Israel's national airline) named one of its first two Boeing 777 passenger planes "Sderot" (the other was named for Kiryat Shmona).[41]| Palestinian
rocket attacks on Israel |
|---|
|
| By year |
| 2001 · 2002–2006 · 2007 2008 · 2008 cease-fire Gaza War · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 2012 |
| Groups responsible |
| Fatah · Hamas · Islamic
Jihad PFLP · DFLP · PRC |
| Rocket types |
| Mortar · Qassam · Al-Quds Katyusha · Grad |
| Cities hit |
| Ashdod · Ashkelon · Beersheba Gedera · Kiryat Gat · Kiryat Malakhi Netivot · Sderot · Ofakim · Yavne |
| Regional Council areas hit |
| Settlements hit (evacuated) |
| Atzmona · Dugit · Elei Sinai Gadid · Ganei Tal · Katif Kfar Darom · Morag Netzarim · Netzer Hazani Neve Dekalim · Nisanit Rafiah Yam · Slav |
| Actions by Israel |
| Civil defense in
Israel Red Color · Iron Dome · ZAKA |
[edit] Lawsuits
In 2011, a Sderot resident filed a million dollar law suit against two Canadian organizations raising funds for a Canadian ship to join the Gaza flotilla. According to the lawyers, “The Canadian Boat’s raison d’être is to aid and abet the terrorist organization that rules Gaza.” These actions violate Canadian laws that prohibit aid to terror groups.[47] |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sderot |
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