EFRAT (West Bank): Hundreds of residents in northern Israel have fled cross-border rocket salvos from Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon for the relative safety of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The municipality of Efrat, a 7,000-strong settlement near the Palestinian town of Bethlehem, has provided sanctuary since the start of the conflict on July 12.
“We have more security here, so it was suggested to those in the north that they come and stay with us until the end of the war,” Hanna Metzger, the mayor of Efrat’s assistant, told AFP.
Israel’s offensive on Lebanon began when the Hezbollah guerrilla group captured two of the Jewish state’s soldiers and killed eight others in separate attacks across the border.
Since that day, thousands of rockets have been fired into northern Israel by the guerrillas from Lebanese territory.
At the Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva (religious seminary) in the centre of the settlement, 280 people have been put up in rooms normally occupied by students who are now on holiday, and now take their places in the refectory.
Arriving from Carmiel, Hatzor or Bar Yohai — areas in the north targeted by a rain of Katyusha rocket fire — the temporary settlers are in no rush to go home again.
“Why should I go back with my children and shut myself up in a shelter when we can live normally here in Efrat?” said Mordechai Shimoni.
The 52-year-old and his 10 children arrived from the village of Bar Yohai in north Galilee three weeks ago with a group of 35 families, despite their fear of living in the West Bank.
“We were afraid at the beginning,” Shimoni added. “For us, Efrat meant being shot at while driving, nearby Palestinian villages and the intifada. But we prefer it here — everything is quiet.”
Naomi Dvorah, a 32-year-old mother of five, spoke of her anguish about their first days in the shelters before she came with her husband and children to Efrat.
“The children were crying all the time — they were traumatised,” she said. “So I thought it would be better to go and live in the south of the country.”
Efrat municipality has organised activities for the children, including excursions. But what the displaced Israelis value most is having ready meals, sheets and blankets, and access to laundry facilities.
“We came here for a few days but after three weeks we’re still here. It’s paradise,” said Dvorah, cradling a baby.
On Sunday, the villagers from Bar Yohai will move to another settlement, at Karneh Shomron between the Palestinian towns of Nablus and Qalqilyah.
According to Yair Wolf, deputy head of the 20-colony settlement of Gush Etzion, there are currently 600 residents of northern Israel in the area. The authorities estimate that 250,000 people altogether have fled from the north of the country since the conflict began.—AFP