(NPR) Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - Most Israelis view Gaza as hostile territory ruled by a terrorist group committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. Israelis say to understand why Israel does what it does in Gaza, you have to travel to the communities that ring the strip. Yanina Barnea has lived in Kibbutz Nahal Oz since childhood. Before the last Gaza war, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 6,000 rockets and 1,500 mortars into Israel. Nineteen Israelis were killed, including a man Barnea knew. "We live in constant anxiety...you have to be alert all the time," she says. Barnea says most people at Nahal Oz supported Israel's war in Gaza because the way they lived before was unbearable. Barnea says she doesn't wish the Palestinians in Gaza ill. "I understand that there is a whole bunch of people there that suffer the same that we do," she says. Shortly afterward, a mortar landed near the kibbutz.
2010-09-03 10:19:40Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive