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Last update - 09:35 20/01/2008 In Gaza, life destroyed by the Qassams By Catrin Ormestad Tags: Israel The Qassam crew arrived in the late afternoon. The two men were in their mid-twenties, both from Hamas, and probably from Beit Hanun. The place they had chosen was perfect: an orange grove, only a few kilometers from the border with Israel. The roofs of the houses in Sderot are clearly visible between the palm trees. In the small house behind the orange grove, Khadra Wahdan, 52, was making pita when she suddenly spotted the militants. It was not the first time they had fired Qassams from the fields around the house, but they had never come so close before. She ran out to tell them to leave. "What are you doing here? Go away! There are children in the house!" she yelled. Advertisement At that moment, an Israeli shell exploded at the entrance to the house. Khadra died instantly, as did a 15-year-old boy who was collecting firewood in the groves. The militants were unharmed and fled. One week later we visit the Wahdans, one of many families in Gaza who are trapped in the war of attrition between the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian militants. Khadra's sons Muhammed and Daoud show us the spot where their mother died. The steel gates are perforated by tiny square holes. The shell was filled with hundreds of sharp pellets to maximize damage. We walk across the fields, but the boys cautiously stay by the house. Under an orange tree, we find part of a rocket that was never fired, an empty steel pipe with tail fins, but without the rocket head and the explosives. In the grass are the launchers, aimed at Sderot. On the sandy road in front of the house we find another Qassam, a rusty pipe with a split open head. In the yard is a big hole, the result of a failed launch. "We hate the rockets!" says Daoud. "They destroy everything. We can't even work anymore." The Wahdans are a family of farmers, but they longer dare to work the vegetable fields around their house. They also used to have fruit trees, but they cut them all down after Khadra's death, in a desperate attempt to keep the militants away. But they keep coming back. In the morning, before we arrived, militants launched four Qassams from the hill behind the house. Daoud shows us a piece of shrapnel from the Israeli response. In the garage they keep a piece of a whole missile, with writing in Hebrew, perhaps as a reminder of who their real enemy is. Their mother was killed the same day as Bush and Olmert were making their lofty speeches about the imminent peace. "It is only words," says Muhammed. "It will lead nowhere. We have had so many shaheeds (martyrs) since Annapolis." One of them was Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar's son. On Thursday the Gazans were still coming to the huge green mourning tent to pay their condolences with the grieving father. In a more modest setting, the Kassem family in Beit Hanun was also receiving visitors to mourn the death of their son Muhammed, the child who was killed alongside Khadra. His mother Salwa is still crying. Her husband Maher has been out of work since the intifada began in 2000. Since then, the family has relied on "God and the UNDP's food coupons," and their eldest sons have been helping with the breadwinning. That is what Muhammed was doing when he was killed - collecting twigs and leaves to sell for a few shekels. Since Israel started cutting the power supply to Gaza, people have been making fires to stay warm in the winter cold. "The cold makes the children sick," says Muhammed's aunt Tahane, gently rocking the baby in her arms, Shahed, 6 months. "We don't have money to buy medicines, and warm clothes have become so expensive in the market." The sanctions have sent prices soaring in Gaza. Basic commodities like rice, olive oil and tehina have almost doubled in price. They also have emptied the supermarket shelves, closed shops and factories and halted all construction, since Israel no longer allows the import of cement. This has also made it impossible to bury the dead properly, since there is no cement for the headstones. Rocks or lumps of concrete are now used to mark new graves. The closure has stopped not only the import of goods but also the export, which affects the farmers. In Beit Lahia it is time to harvest strawberries. Saddam and Alia Maruf and their six children are working in the fields, loading boxes of succulent red berries onto donkey carts. But instead of being exported to Europe for a good profit, they will be sold at the local market, where the farmers will barely earn a fraction of the tens of thousands of shekels they have invested in the crop. "This year we will lose everything," says Saddam Maruf. Suddenly, a huge explosion. A Qassam has been fired from a grove nearby. The strawberry pickers look at the white smoke and continue to harvest. That is all they can do, pick their strawberries and wait - for the Israeli response, and for the border to open. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Prayer change Pope Benedict XVI nixes a reference to Jews` `blindness` over Jesus in a Catholic prayer. Blind and deaf in Jaffa 'The world's first professional deaf-blind theatre company' takes center stage in Jaffa.   1.   QASSAMS WERE ONLY AN ALIBI 09:42  |  indrajaya 20/01/08   2.   Crips and Bloods - Turf Warfare 09:46  |  Mark of Lewiston 20/01/08   3.   # 1 Qassams are the only causeINdrajaya 10:06  |  Hoshosh 20/01/08   4.   Indrajaya is only a smokescreen 10:27  |  Nik Miller 20/01/08   5.   How do the Journalists know? 10:35  |  David 20/01/08   6.   My question 11:21  |  A mother 20/01/08   7.   IN GAZA, LIFE DESTROYED BY ARABS! 11:26  |  SPTZ 20/01/08   8.   Licence to kill 11:27  |  Dav 20/01/08   9.   11/ 01/ 08 11:29  |  Dav 20/01/08   10.   05/ 01/ 08 11:31  |  Dav 20/01/08   11.   We have compassion that their own people don`t give 11:33  |  Iz Ray Leigh 20/01/08   12.   and more crimes 11:34  |  Dav 20/01/08   13.   the spirits are high, that`s important 11:40  |  Leon Rosgarten 20/01/08   14.   Note to Hamas: You have made your point, so stop already 11:43  |  Natallie Durson 20/01/08   15.   When there ever was such a "touching" story about Sderot victims? 11:50  |  Genuine Tosefta 20/01/08   16.   What this narrative shows 12:02  |  KUTW 20/01/08   17.   Humanitarian crisis, hamas government responsibility 12:06  |  KUTW 20/01/08   18.   The chosen place was perfect 12:07  |  KUTW 20/01/08   19.   At least, the IDF prevented 12:11  |  KUTW 20/01/08   20.   "The real enemy" 12:14  |  KUTW 20/01/08   21.   "Shaheeds" 12:17  |  KUTW 20/01/08   22.   from this talkback it seems qassams only started last year ? 12:26  |  v hardman 20/01/08   23.   Rosgarten 12:34  |  George 20/01/08   24.   digging its own grave... 12:37  |  ravi 20/01/08   25.   11.... israeli compassion?...ha? 12:43  |  ravi 20/01/08   26.   to #9,#10, and #12 12:44  |  A mother 20/01/08   27.   Life in Gaza: oxymoron #1 12:47  |  Star of David 20/01/08   28.   Palestinians fight because they want an end to Israel`s existence 12:51  |  Sam 20/01/08   29.   # 1 to indrajaya in jakarta 13:13  |  eric 20/01/08   30.   Pals can only blames themselves for the mess in Gaza 13:15  |  Aaron 20/01/08   31.   # 17 oh my God yes, kutw 13:23  |  eric 20/01/08   32.   Poor sweet, innocent Hamas 13:35  |  Motic 20/01/08   33.   What do they expect? 13:38  |  Joe 20/01/08   34.   Sidderot? 13:41  |  Ben Azai 20/01/08   35.   # 29, ERIC 13:43  |  indrajaya 20/01/08   36.   Polish people destroyed their own land 14:18  |  Jens 20/01/08   37.   Aaron why blame themselves when the world gives them a free pass 14:31  |  Genuine Tosefta 20/01/08   38.   Yes, it`s the Qassams not the Retilation to blame! 14:57  |  Shlomo 20/01/08   39.   #36 Jens German comparison 15:10  |  SG 20/01/08   40.   two golden candle sticks 15:20  |  goldy 20/01/08   41.   Keep Firing Those Qassams-We Need The Target Practice 15:24  |  dyinglikeflies 20/01/08   42.   wrong hamas political choices pals voting led to all this 15:26  |  ralph 20/01/08   43.   such stupidity also demeans the pals they voted,made their choice 15:27  |  ralph 20/01/08   44.   They call themselves shaheed 15:35  |  Jason 20/01/08   45.   Israel, dont stop the strikes 16:15  |  KUTW 20/01/08   46.   Why don`t these people CALL THE POLICE? 17:12  |  idf_sergeant 20/01/08   47.   Good article 17:14  |  Judith 20/01/08   48.   Caught by Hamas 17:44  |  Dik 20/01/08   49.   so, an admixtur of people from asia, eur, 18:01  |  bozhidar balkas 20/01/08   50.   Please change that 18:19  |  Shual 20/01/08   51.   eric of nm # 31.......so, in your estimation 19:23  |  Lynn 20/01/08   52.   #16 What it also shows 19:29  |  Outsider 20/01/08   53.   46.idf_sergeant: the pal police force 20:03  |  KUTW 20/01/08   54.   Stop BS - ing Indrajaya 20:45  |  Avrum 20/01/08   55.   What life??Do Arabs care about life ??? 20:53  |  TOMY 20/01/08   56.   #33 US and Europe would attack isarel 21:06  |  Joe W 20/01/08   57.   BTW Catrin, Muslims also destroy life in Sweden, your native 21:21  |  Genuine Tosefta 20/01/08   58.   Note to Hamas by Natalie in no 14 21:49  |  Martine 20/01/08   59.   "real enemies" 21:53  |  nina 20/01/08   60.   Palestinians Usng their own as Civilian Shields 22:49  |  Gina 20/01/08   61.   RAVI Greed IS WORTH IT 23:46  |  TOBIA 20/01/08   62.   # 51 i never said the rocket launches were okay 00:12  |  eric 21/01/08   63.   Why doesn`t the Saudi prince (see Haaretz article) 01:28  |  Nechama 21/01/08   64.   The Result 02:33  |  Ron 21/01/08   65.   # 55 Tomy 02:43  |  Ron 21/01/08   66.   #35 Indrajaya - lies 03:32  |  Ofer 21/01/08   67.   #24 ravi - which greed? 03:37  |  Ofer 21/01/08   68.   "Palestinians using their own as civilian shields" 03:42  |  Sam 21/01/08   69.   This is War - Chose War or Peace, Life or Death - That is It 06:09  |  J 21/01/08   70.   response 06:41  |  phill 21/01/08   71.   No PA, no Hamas, no Kassams, no response 06:49  |  Susan 21/01/08