UPDATE 10 pm: Islamic Jihad terror cell hit by IAF missile in the last hour as terrorists were preparing to launch rockets against Israel. Senior terrorist commander killed; others killed and wounded.
UPDATE 8:00 am: Southern Israel attacked overnight by possibly as many as three Palestinian terrorist Qassams. One struck the Eshkol Region–others perhaps hit further north. We are back to a situation in which all strikes are not being reported by the government.
TODAY’S BLOG
Kibbutz Kerem Shalom: a beautiful and free place to live for those who are committed Zionists and adventurous at heart.
“Palestinian terrorist rockets and mortars attempted to kill the men, women, and children of the Eshkol region overnight.”
Followers of this blog will note that the daily updates and the israelstreet breaking news often describe terrorist attacks on the men, women, and children of the “Eshkol region” or “the Eshkol Regional Council“.
The Eshkol region is the area in black. Kerem Shalom is at the tri-border between Israel, Egypt, and Gaza.
The Eshkol region is in southwest Israel–in the northwestern Negev. It is roughly between Ashkelon and Beersheva and is bordered on the west by Palestinian Gaza. It is populated by 11 kibbutzim: Be’eri, Ein HaShlosha, Gvulot, Maten, Nir Oz, Nir Yitzhak, Nirim, Holit, Kerem Shalom, Kissufim, and Re’im. There are also 10 moshavim and three small communities–none of which number more than 300 people.
Today, your humble servant, wants to describe kibbutz Kerem Shalom–which is right at the point where the Egyptian, Gazan, and Israeli borders all come together (the Kerem Shalom border crossing was where Gilad Shalit exited Egypt last month), and which has been the recipient of Qassam and mortar fire over the last 72 hours.
So what does it mean when your humble servant says that the terrorist rockets attempted to kill “the men, women, and children” of Kerem Shalom? It means 33 adults, 6 teenagers, 17 children between the ages of three and thirteen, and 6 infants and toddlers who are younger than three years old. That’s who the Islamic Palestinian terrorists are trying to kill.
The Kerem Shalom kibbutz was founded in 1966 by members of the Hashomer Hatzair, a worldwide socialist-Zionist youth movement that today has more than 7000 members in 20 countries including Germany, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, France, Belgium. Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine, Australia, and Israel.
Ironically, the name “Shalom” was chosen because its members thought that Kerem Shalom’s location would help it establish peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Today, the kibbutz describes itself as committed to “a communal-secular way of life, which marks holidays and holds culture evenings together and observes total mutual responsibility – in education, culture, health and its economy.” The kibbutzniks support themselves through agriculture and high-tech enterprises.
Kerem Shalom is currently trying to recruit new members with a campaign that offers free apartments up to 100 square meters and 100% funding of university tuition at any institute of higher learning.
Already the campaign is producing results.
New residents of Kerem Shalom
If you are interested, click on this link for the name and phone numbers of people to contact.
Why don’t you help make Kerem Shalom what its members have always wanted it to be: a vineyard of peace–what have you done for Israel today?
THIS DAY IN ISRAELI HISTORY
Abba Eban, in Der Spiegel, November 5, 1969:
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VOCABULARY NOTES
Suggested change: instead of “the legitimacy of” substitute “the right of Israelis to”
Practical use from the news yesterday:
(Don’t forget from our blogs several weeks ago that we are now replacing “settlement activity” with “construction of Jewish homes, schools and hospitals“):
“The United States has a clear policy – we do not accept the legitimacy of the right of Israelis to continued Israeli settlement activity construction of Jewish homes, schools, and hospitals.”
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.