Duke Student Witnesses Gaza Attack

Blogging at DukeChronicle.com Duke student Ethan Sommer begins:

Some of you may have read a New York Times piece on Wednesday about life along Israel’s Southern border with the Gaza Strip. Over the past seven years this region has experienced thousands of mortar and Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza.

While in Israel over winter break I witnessed one such attack on January, 5.

I had driven to the border-city of Sderot and some nearby Kibbutzim (plural for Kibbutz) in order to see how people endured on a day-to-day basis. While at a Kibbutz called Nir’am I met two Israeli college students who offered to show me a hilltop that overlooks the Strip. Apparently it was one of many popular sites where thrill-seekers and the curious come to watch the daily exchanges between Gaza terrorists and the IDF, as well as the increasingly frequent internecine conflict among Palestinians.

We arrived on the windy hill to find 8 or so spectators, including 1 family who was picnicking alongside a man-sized wind chime that adorns the hill.

The rest of Sommer’s post is here.

Sommer has a good eye for detail and character.