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Palestinian student says wife, neighbors coping in Gaza. Israeli couple fear number, range of militants' rockets
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Jan 11, 2009
Akron is about 6,000 miles from the war-torn Gaza Strip, but violence there is never far from the minds of Palestinians and Israelis living here.
Before he goes to sleep each night, Nasser Abualnour makes another round of phone calls from his Akron home to family members in Gaza ''to make sure they are alive.''
A 67-year-old cousin was killed as he was working on a farm Dec. 28 — the second day of the Israeli air assault.
The day before, a 13-year-old nephew, bicycling to school, was hit by flying rubble after an airstrike on a nearby building. He was treated at a hospital for a concussion and a broken leg.
''Thanks be to God he was discharged'' this week, Abualnour said.
Abualnour, 45, arrived in Akron in August 2006 to study for a doctorate in public administration at the University of Akron.
Schoolwork is taking a back seat to following news out of Gaza and making repeated phone calls home to family members in Gaza City and Rafa. Many have been without electricity or water for days.
His wife in Gaza City got together with neighbors to buy fuel for a generator in a nearby mosque. With the power, she ran a pump to fill water tanks. She also charged her laptop so she could send messages to her husband.
Many of Abualnour's children sleep in the same room as their mother.
''They are scared to death,'' he said.
Abualnour, a faculty member in the College of Nursing at the Islamic University of Gaza, had been hopeful that a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night ''would bring an end. But when I woke up [Friday] and I called my family, they said there were more [air] strikes.''
The same day, Hamas fired more than 30 rockets into Israel, hitting an area in and around two of the largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza in an attempt to stop years of rocket fire from Gaza, controlled by Hamas. More than 800 Palestinians have died since Dec. 27. Israel has said it is doing the utmost to avoid civilian deaths.
Those rockets are very much a worry for Aharon Schwartz, 31, whose grandfather lives in Ashkelon, near Gaza, on Israel's southern coast.
Schwartz, an Israeli Army reservist, said the area including Ashkelon and nearby Sderot ''used to get 80 rockets a day'' before the offensive began.
Schwartz and his wife, Lihi Zigler-Schwartz, 30, are in the area serving as emissaries — or ''shlichim'' — to members of the area's Jewish community. The couple, who arrived in 2007, are based at the Shaw Jewish Community Center in Akron.
Their home in Israel is in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba, about 50 miles from the northern Gaza border.
So far, no Hamas rockets have hit that far north.
Still, the targets are close.
''Just imagine yourself,'' Aharon Schwartz said. ''You live in Canton and the war is in Cleveland.''
And the latest rockets have a longer range — 25 miles, Lihi Schwartz said, striking areas as far away as Beersheba. About 700,000 Israeli citizens live within the range of these rockets, she said.
Earlier this week, the Schwartzes woke up and learned via a newscast that four rockets had been fired into Israel from the north by militants in Lebanon.
Fortunately, she said, there have been no further rocket launches from Lebanon.
''We don't want any more confrontation than we have,'' she said.
The Schwartzes plan to return to Israel at the end of this summer.
''We want to be there to help Israel, but we know that being here is helping,'' Aharon Schwartz said, ''not in a military way, but in a diplomatic way.''
Lihi Schwartz said Hamas members are terrorists who are using civilians as human shields.
''The conflict is not with the Palestinian people,'' Aharon Schwartz said. ''We have no interest in hurting them.''
The Israel Defense Force, the couple said, has been alerting people by sending text messages and dropping leaflets from planes. Israel has supplied Gaza with thousands of pounds of food and medical supplies, the Schwartzes said.
Karim Abu Hashim, a Palestinian-American who lives in Macedonia and also has family in Gaza, said it is difficult to escape the airstrikes.
Gaza is a narrow strip of land, said Abu Hashim, an electrical engineer. ''Where are the people going to go? . . . there are no bunkers, there are no safe hospitals, there are no safe worship places to go to.''
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron is about 6,000 miles from the war-torn Gaza Strip, but violence there is never far from the minds of Palestinians and Israelis living here.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 11:35 AM, 01/11/2009
It is my belief that the Palestinians will never accept Jews in Palestine, and also that Jews will always try to overpower Palestinians in Israel. And I am inclined to believe that the USA is on the wrong side of the fence in this situation.
rmk, akron
Cuyahoga Falls, Oh
Posted 01:51 PM, 01/11/2009
"People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose, will always be dangerous." ~ Edmond Burke
Perhaps more of us need to be on both sides instead of one or the other?
U, OH
Posted 04:47 PM, 01/11/2009
Nice story about 2 families affected by the war. I hope the Mideast finds peace soon.
Posted 05:20 PM, 01/11/2009
so Mr. Schwartz has no interest in hurting Palestinians. Nice party line. But whether interested or disinterested, Israel has, to date, killed well over 800 Palestinians (including some 235 children) and wounding about 3000; whether interested or disinterested, Israel announced plans for killing more Palestinians in Gaza in the days ahead. In the meantime Israel bombs homes, schools, ambulances, mosques relentlessly. And it even has the audacity to think God approves of this mass murder. How utterly shameful.
akron, OH
Posted 10:16 PM, 01/11/2009
ok
Posted 10:23 PM, 01/11/2009
@spirit of 76, Rightand Hammas NEVER hurt anyone, not men, not women and deffinitly no children!!! Yea, right.
APO, AE
Posted 05:09 AM, 01/12/2009
There are two sides to every story. Both sides are wrong for one reason or another. Hamas is a terrorist organization which has swore to destroy Isreal. They shoot rockets at Isreal and kill innocent civilians, cause fear and panic. Isreal defends its self very aggresively which causes death, fear, and panic. Why can't the Arabs and the Isreali's live in peace? Why can't we all live in peace? Why do people use Religon for personal gain?? Every person has the right to live, be it as an American, Isreali, Arab, Asian, African, whoever, from wherever it's just said alot of people don't see it that way. As a people the world still has alot of growing up to do. My thoughts and prayers go out to both sides in this terrible tragedy
