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Damaged caused by a Qassam rocket next to a Sderot school earlier this year. (Albert Sadikov / Jini)
Last update - 23:44 12/12/2007
Sderot mayor resigns in wake of rocket barrage from Gaza Strip
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Tags: Gaza, Israel, Ehud Olmert 

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal announced his resignation after a barrage of at least 17 Qassam rockets struck the western Negev on Wednesday morning.

Moyal cited his inability to function as mayor in the difficult security situation as reason for his resignation.

The salvo of rockets struck Sderot and the surrounding area hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to remove the threat of Qassams from Israel's south during a conference in Tel Aviv.
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Most of the rockets landed in open fields. Five people were lightly wounded by the rockets, including one girl, who was hit by shrapnel. The rest were treated for shock.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Moyal blamed the government for an evasion of responsibility and helplessness against the threat from Gaza, saying he hoped his resignation would encourage a major military operation in the coastal territory.

"I cannot take the responsibility to manage a city that is under attack for seven years," he said. "If 20 children are killed tomorrow from a rocket, I will be asked, 'why did you open the kindergarten?' I have been deliberating matters pertaining to human life for years now, and I cannot continue," he said.

Moyal said later that "this is a decision I have been weighing for many years. A year ago I threatened to quit, and today I have reached a decision. For seven years no one has taken responsibility for what is happening here. It is unreasonable to start the morning with eight Qassams. I am not willing to take this responsibility. I was chosen to manage a city, and not this situation."

Moyal maintains that the goal of his resignation is not to pressure the government into taking a stance, adding that "reinforcement [of structures against rockets], in my opinion, is not a solution, although I understand the residents' demands, and the only demand from the government is to prevent the ability to fire [the rockets]. Sderot is going to break apart. The question whether Moyal is mayor is insignificant, but the question whether Sderot will receive aid is significant."

Sderot, a working-class town of 22,000, has been battered by more than 4,500 crude Qassam rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, just a mile away, since 2001. The unguided projectiles have killed seven residents, injured dozens more, and sowed panic on the town's streets and in its schools. Real estate prices have dropped 60 percent, commerce has collapsed and many residents have fled for fear of the rockets.

The Islamic Jihad militant group took responsibility for firing 11 of the rockets on Wednesday, which it said was an act of revenge after the Israel Defense Forces killed eight Palestinian militants throughout the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The security cabinet met Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Regarding the ongoing Qassam fire, the cabinet told the defense establishment to continue its pinpointed activities in Gaza against Hamas and other militant groups responsible for firing rockets and mortars.

A total of 970 rockets and 1,200 mortar shells have been fired at Israel from Gaza since the start of 2007.

Also on Wednesday, the High Court of Justice was scheduled to hold a hearing on a petition submitted by Sderot residents demanding the reinforcement of 800 homes. The residents demand the money for the project be allocated in the 2008 state budget.

The state maintains that the issue of reinforcement has to do with state policy, and therefore is not within the jurisdiction of the High Court.

Related articles:
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  • PM approves 'severe and harsh' response to Qassam rocket fire
  • Woman killed, two wounded in Qassam rocket strike on Sderot
  • School year to continue in Sderot despite Qassam threat
  • PM: Ability to implement all home front improvements is limited>
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      1.   And how does he propose to do this? 00:23  |  Gee 12/12/07
      2.   ofcourse,you nitwit,the legal and security teams will advise 00:28  |  lakshmi 12/12/07
      3.   better late than never 00:29  |  Larry54 12/12/07
      4.   Olmert vows to remove possibility of peace talks. 00:40  |  Michael 12/12/07
      5.   The Relentless Qassam Propaganda Campaign 01:18  |  chet 12/12/07
      6.   lakshmi #2 01:22  |  Gee 12/12/07
      7.   #4 You are weak minded. 01:27  |  Levi 12/12/07
      8.   Good! 01:35  |  Nechama 12/12/07
      9.   You cannot stop the right to defense... Rockets are a defense. 01:51  |  POP 12/12/07
      10.   Michael,it was stupid by the Brits to demand cessation of IRA ter 01:52  |  Absolute Sweden 12/12/07
      11.   #2 lakshmi 02:02  |  King of all Jews 12/12/07
      12.   Its not Israel`s "actions" but "reactions" 02:04  |  Ben 12/12/07
      13.   Sderot 02:36  |  daniel 12/12/07
      14.   to POP 02:45  |  Judith 12/12/07
      15.   #7 Levi 02:46  |  Chris Linthwaite 12/12/07
      16.   Chet # 5 02:47  |  Judith 12/12/07
      17.   Abs 10. The IDF did not need to escalate now. 03:03  |  Michael 12/12/07
      18.   Olmert vows to remove Qassam rocket threat 03:03  |  Jack 12/12/07
      19.   Are you calling me weak-minded Levi 7? 03:13  |  Michael 12/12/07
      20.   Live and "not" learn 03:36  |  Baz Mann 12/12/07
      21.   Prerequisite 03:40  |  Frank 12/12/07
      22.   Reassuring words from our friend, Chet 03:58  |  Stephen in New York 12/12/07
      23.   removing rocket threat 04:07  |  geroge 12/12/07
      24.   Ben Jabo 04:08  |  Stephen in New York 12/12/07
      25.   REAL REASON 4 QASSAMS IS 2 CON`T OCCUPATION! WHY?... 04:10  |  Robert 12/12/07
      26.   5 You want to have your Qassam and eat its propaganda? 04:31  |  Robin. 12/12/07
      27.   Prelude to "Convergence" as always 04:36  |  ZADOK 12/12/07
      28.   Is the blowhard still talking???? 05:13  |  Bernard Ross 12/12/07
      29.   Lakshmi#2 05:20  |  Sabra 12/12/07
      30.   If zions can dealer with fireworks qassans... 06:12  |  Niva dos santos 12/12/07
      31.   sooner or later 07:44  |  rm 12/12/07
      32.   Olmert LIES again. Bla, bla,bla............... 08:21  |  Avraham 12/12/07
      33.   #4 more from michael which adds up to less 08:38  |  victor hardman 12/12/07
      34.   10 IDF tanks against 0 Hamas tanks. One IDF tank down 09:22  |  Clickfool 12/12/07
      35.   Linthwaite nine people a day are killed on the roads of the UK 09:27  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 12/12/07
      36.   `Seems Hamas have acquired some useful kit`. says clickfool 09:33  |  Israeli 12/12/07
      37.   For "Israeli" # 36 10:02  |  Clickfool 12/12/07
      38.   Qassams 11:15  |  Baruch 12/12/07
      39.   Lakshmi 11:20  |  H 12/12/07
      40.   CLickfool, hero of the Falkland war, military know-it-all 11:36  |  Jeff 12/12/07
      41.   #37 the fool from sussex 12:01  |  danny 12/12/07
      42.   Obtuse banditry from Ghaza - working for Israel `s 12:09  |  17 12/12/07
      43.   #35 Margie 12:47  |  Chris Linthwaite 12/12/07
      44.   Clickfool - how many walls does a prison have? 13:28  |  Joe Sittizen 12/12/07
      45.   Qassam`s violate international law 13:43  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 12/12/07
      46.   This reminds me of Lebanon Last Summer 13:45  |  POP 12/12/07
      47.   let israel give palestenian their rights 13:46  |  ramon mizrahee 12/12/07
      48.   Clickfool`s incessant blarney 13:51  |  ChanahS 12/12/07
      49.   # 42 17, Israels advantage today = Israels disaster tomorrow 13:52  |  Swiss (Dino) 12/12/07
      50.   100000 missiles 14:00  |  Dav 12/12/07
      51.   rm # 31 Later Rather Than Sooner 14:03  |  Jeff Northridge 12/12/07
      52.   Click you are a bloody fool @37 14:10  |  Ephraim 12/12/07
      53.   # 5Chet, Even one Israeli dead from Qassams is one too many. 14:14  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 12/12/07
      54.   Respond `proportionately` 14:15  |  Nik "Banned" Miller 12/12/07
      55.   Michael of the UK 14:16  |  Ephraim 12/12/07
      56.   kasams only kill 5, SO WHAT 14:34  |  Steve 12/12/07
      57.   ramon you have half the information-the wrong half 14:39  |  Israeli 12/12/07
      58.   #5 Chet: 5 too many deaths! 14:42  |  Alicia 12/12/07
      59.   POP # 46 Defense Against What? 14:47  |  Jeff Northridge 12/12/07
      60.   DINO - Sorry to disappoint - no disaster in future . 15:14  |  17 12/12/07
      61.   #6 Gee 15:14  |  Anwar 12/12/07
      62.   For Ephraim # 52 15:21  |  Clickfool 12/12/07
      63.   RETAKE GAZA,W.BANK, STOP ALL TALKS,DESTROY TERROR)))))))))))))))) 15:24  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 12/12/07
      64.   Jeff Nothridge on his assumptions #59 15:25  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/12/07
      65.   TO # 59 defence to agration and illegal occupation 15:28  |  Madhu 12/12/07
      66.   Sderot mayor quits in wake of rocket barrage 15:28  |  Tzion 12/12/07
      67.   # 37 Clickfool--PRISON & PRISONERS 15:32  |  JOSH 12/12/07
      68.   World community has had it with degenerate Hamas 15:32  |  The Equalizer 12/12/07
      69.   Perhps Olmert can also resign because of his inability to act. 15:35  |  bat yam 12/12/07
      70.   I blame the courts, Olmert