Found on BBC:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7270785.stm] and
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7316574.stm]:
Dear Mona,
I have been working in Sderot since August 2007.
Life in Sderot is life in a war-zone. For over seven years, the people of Sderot and the western Negev have lived with rocket fire from Gaza daily, and the rocket terror worsens each month.
I work at the Sderot Media Center. Our aim is to raise awareness of this reality both in Israel and internationally.
I chose to work here because the residents of this city under fire need support.
I used to sleep in Sderot until I heard the whoosh of the Qassam rockets over the roof a couple of times.
The bomb shelter is downstairs, and I cannot make it down within 15 seconds of the siren sounding.
So for my sanity and safety, I decided it would be best to sleep outside Sderot in a neighbouring kibbutz during the nights I spend in the area.
I feel very fortunate that I have this option to leave when I want because the families of Sderot are not able to do so.
Do I see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace? No
Most of the residents are financially tied to the area and are on the lower economic scale.
Sderot is a warm and tight-knit community of rooted families who have lived in the city for several generations.
It is not unusual to find a family of grandparents, children, and grandchildren all living on the same street.
I was born in Jerusalem, but I moved to the United States with my family when I was two. I grew up in the USA in Maine, which is on the Canadian border. Maine is a beautiful state surrounded by lakes and forests and wildlife.
I left this peaceful way of life after I graduated high school four years ago and moved to Israel.
Growing up, it was always clear to me that I would come back to Israel.
Reading the Biblical stories of my ancestors and their life in Israel two thousand years ago gave me a sense of a homeland that was finally accessible to me.
As a family, we would also visit Israel every year. My mom is Israeli and she has a lot of family here.
Do I see Palestinians and Israelis living side by side in peace? No. I am very cautious of the word peace, because it is an abstract idea that has different meanings for people of different cultures.
Peace as I understand it, is based on love and mutual respect - and most importantly respect for an ideology and belief that is different from your own.
People expect Israel to give away land and then there will be instant peace.
Years of educating Palestinian children to hate and terrorize Israeli civilians cannot be reversed by simply giving away land.
The Gaza Strip was given away with the idea that there would be peace, but the Qassam terror has only increased dramatically since the disengagement.
I would like to ask you Mona, what is it like living in Gaza? What was your education like when you were growing up? What is your family like?
I look forward to hearing from you and send you warm regards.
Anav.
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Dear Anav
It is very kind of you to write from Sderot.
Before I tell you about life in Gaza, I would like to tell you that I am originally from what is now the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
My family left with thousands of others after 1948 and my grandfather was one of many killed in fighting the Israelis.
My grandmother is still alive. She tells in detail how peaceful life was before the Israeli thugs attacked.
I grew up during the first Intifada [Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule 1987-1993].
I can't remember how many times the Israeli forces attacked my home, but I remember one time hiding under my bed, trembling with fear.
I have three younger brothers who are all at school. I used to have four - my brother Amer was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in 1992. He was 12 years old.
Scenes of blood and death are fixed in my mind. I have to say, Israel taught us how to hate it, no-one else.
Is life in Sderot a war-zone?! Then what words should I use to describe Gaza?
If you contrast the weaponry of Israel with Hamas - you see Hamas' resistance is symbolic, nothing more.
Life in Gaza is like hell.
Israel killed more than 60 people in Gaza on Saturday 1 March alone. Many were civilians and children.
Are there any similarities between the power of the weapons that do this - and Hamas' home made Qassam rockets?
How many people have they killed since Hamas started launching them? How many houses have they destroyed?
If you contrast the two, I think you can see that Hamas' manner of resistance is symbolic, nothing more than that.
When Israel dismantled its illegal settlements and disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005, I was happy that I would finally be able to visit my friend who lives in the middle of the Strip whenever I wanted.
But Israel didn't leave us peace, it left us sonic booms. The occupation forces use this to shatter our nerves. The sound of the aircraft is so loud it can break windows.
How would you feel if someone else controlled your every movement? How would you feel if you didn't have the right to move inside your country; if you were prevented from travelling abroad for study; if the cost of food and fuel was determined by someone else closing your borders; if you spent most of your nights in darkness?
I had severe headaches last month because I spent several hours studying by faint candlelight.
Why are we punished with darkness? Why are patients prevented from having medicine?
It is our land and we have the right to dismiss anyone who shows aggression towards us.
Shelling has been going on while I have been writing this. I just heard my mother asking "What will happen tonight"?
I hope your night is quiet.
Warmest regards,
Mona.
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Dear Mona,
I hope it is more quiet for you when you read this.
War is devastating to all and I have been going through this hellish experience myself this past year.
I want to tell you that from my side in Sderot I see the same kind of pain, trauma and death that you described in your email.
Hamas's resistance is not "symbolic" for the Israelis living in southern Israel.
Take Osher Twito. This eight year-old boy can no longer walk because shrapnel from a rocket explosion severed his left leg, which had to be amputated.
Sderot was once a city of 24,000 people. These "homemade rockets" have forced close to 5,000 people to relocate elsewhere in Israel over the past seven years.
Although the weaponry of Palestinian terror groups may be crude and inexpensive, it has wreaked devastation for the Israelis in this region, as any advanced military weaponry would.
I know this may be difficult to believe based on the way Israel is presented in the Arab world, but the Israeli army does not intend nor want to kill innocent Palestinian women and children. The IDF enters Gaza to eliminate the terrorists who terrorise Israelis.
I feel your pain at the innocent lives taken in this warfare. And remember that most of the rockets are launched from civilian areas like schoolyards and hospitals.
Do you believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in this land? Do you recognise Israel as a Jewish state?
It is very difficult to target Palestinian terrorists when they use women and children as human shields.
Hamas times its rocket fire so that Jewish children will be the most likely targets. It fires Qassam rockets early in the morning when they go to school and in the afternoon when their parents pick them up.
This "symbolic" war by Hamas is not being waged solely against our soldiers, but against us - the Jewish people.
You say your family originally came from Ashkelon. I am curious, where did your great-great-great grandparents originally come from? How long had they been here?
I too have family who were displaced. My grandmother left Poland because of the growing fear of Nazi control. She managed to escape to Israel but her entire family was killed in the Holocaust before they could join her. She never went back to Poland.
Do you believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in this land? Do you recognise Israel as a Jewish state?
I know that Ashkelon to you is al-Majdal. If the Hebrew names of these cities are not recognised and the Jewish presence in this land not tolerated among the Arabs - how do you conceive that there will be peace with Israel?
Outside the conflict, I was wondering what English books you like reading? This year, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, is one of my favourites. I can't decide if Heathcliff is truly a villain!
Best wishes and keep well,
Anav
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Dear Anav,
It is pleasure to write to you again.
Yes, it is more quiet now in terms of military attacks.
Heathcliff is a victim of his tyrannical society, but when he is in power, he becomes a victimiser himself. Do you notice, the victim always becomes the bully when he has control?
I don't care where my great-great-great grandparents came from, or when. History is full of migration and the movement of peoples, including yours.
After three thousand years living around the world, suddenly you remembered your homeland!
You said your family came to Palestine because of the spread of Nazism, to escape the Holocaust.
Why should we Palestinians have to pay the price of others' crimes? If the Nazis killed your grandmother's family, why do you kill us in return?
I don't mean you personally of course, but the Israeli state.
How can I accept the existence of a state which has occupied our land for 40 years, an occupation which has resulted in so many Palestinians being killed?
On terrorism... why is launching "crude and inexpensive" weaponry on the children of Sderot considered terrorism, when F16s and Mercava tanks killing children inside their homes in Gaza is not?
Samar and Samah were two sisters, aged 13 and 23, who were together at home in Gaza when an Israeli shell killed them last month. They weren't resisting anyone.
I think the term "terrorism" is connected to a level of sophistication in the weapons used. If we had had advanced weaponry, this whole thing would have been managed differently. It would have become a war between two nations - with no mention of terrorism.
Another point, what do you call the prevention of food and medical supplies entering the Gaza Strip? Is this not a kind of terrorism?
Peace is always possible everywhere if attention is paid to it, and if rights are returned to people who have lost them. I believe in peace, as we are exchanging letters.
I think peace is what makes us human. You, the Jew, and I, the Arab Muslim, are humans, so there is place for peace.
But can you tell me why Israel closes the borders and prevents people from travelling?
Don't you think that the international community (the UN) handles the conflict unfairly - and has actually made it worse?
Do you see this as a struggle for survival, between me and you?
My favourite English novel is Heart of Darkness for Joseph Conrad. Don't you think, colonialism in all ages has the same ideology?
Do you like Shakespeare? Hamlet is one of my favourites. Every time I read it I discover that he has a new problem.
Best wishes,
Mona