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An IDF officer examining the damage to a house in Kfar Aza in which an Israeli man was killed by a mortar fired by Gaza militants on May 9. (AP)
Battered by rockets, Gaza-area kibbutz heads north for Shavuot
By Eli Ashkenazi
Tags: Hamas, Israel, Qassam, Gaza

Two hundred members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, on the border of the Gaza Strip, have been invited to spend the Shavuot holiday in Kibbutz Degania Alef in the northern Jordan Valley. This is the second consecutive year in which the northern kibbutz has hosted Kfar Aza, which lost member Jimmy Kedoshim to mortar fire last month.

"If the option of celebrating at Degania did not exist, I suppose most people would leave here to be with family or friends, or would look for some other solution outside this area," said Kfar Aza member Varda Goldstein. "But we are looking for a solution that will keep people together. That way it's easier to overcome the situation."

Degania Alef, near the Sea of Galilee, spent yesterday preparing to receive their southern guests for the holiday, which starts this evening, including by cleaning and turning every possible space into rooms for the guests to sleep in.
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"It's a connection that unfortunately has become a tradition," said Degania Alef secretary Shai Shoshani. "The situation is very difficult. We have the feeling we have already passed a certain point. On one hand, it's heartwarming to help friends from the south, but on the other hand, we would like it to have been under other circumstances. It's painful that right when the wheat is ready to harvest, they are being fired on and threatened. Residents of the Jordan Valley are showing solidarity out of an understanding of the situation that residents of the south are in."

Shoshani said the guests will be fully involved in the local celebration, taking part in the ceremony of the first fruits, the holiday meal and the kibbutz's traditional basketball tournament.

Funding to host the guests came from the Kibbutz Movement, which Goldstein said proves that "there is solidarity in the Kibbutz Movement. In contrast, I feel that the state has abandoned us."

On Friday - after Amnon Rosenberg, also killed in a mortar attack, was buried in Kibbutz Nirim - Kibbutz Movement Secretary General Gavri Bargil urged the government to do something to change the sorry security situation in communities near Gaza. "The mortar shells being fired at the border communities are destroying these communities, which have been left without protection," he said.

Bargil demanded that the cabinet make an immediate decision to either to launch a major military operation in Gaza or agree to a cease-fire with Hamas, whichever would best bring peace and quiet to the area.
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  1.   You supported the disengagement 06:57  |  Dror 08/06/08
  2.   Kibbutz Aza Exodus 07:05  |  Dr. David Feigenbaum 08/06/08
  3.   Didnt hey support the "disengagement"? You made your bed... 10:10  |  SLAVO 08/06/08
  4.   Hamas is toying with us 10:22  |  Dror 08/06/08
  5.   Carpet Bomb äza 10:55  |  Akiva P 08/06/08
  6.   the mistake made was 11:08  |  Dror 08/06/08
  7.   I did no realize it was going to get this bad 11:25  |  Dror 08/06/08
  8.   but will they have the "right of return"? 14:36  |  odles 08/06/08
  9.   Dror 14:42  |  Philip 08/06/08
  10.   Jewish sovereignty 15:39  |  Dror 08/06/08
  11.   Philip #9 15:46  |  Ronnie 08/06/08
  12.   I AM ASHAMED TO BE A JEW 18:29  |  Gilbert 08/06/08
  13.   People like Philip run the Israeli Goverment 20:51  |  Absolute Sweden 08/06/08
  14.   No responses from The Haters... 22:45  |  Free Gilad Shalit 08/06/08
  15.   # 12 never ashamed to be a Jew 01:12  |  larzbeach 09/06/08
  16.   #13 Free Galid Shalit 02:11  |  Free Vanunu 09/06/08
  17.   WHERE IS THE GREAT AND POWERFUL IDF?????? 04:17  |  Nachum of Aushwitz 09/06/08
  18.   IT`S OVER AND GONE 04:21  |  NEIL GOLAN 09/06/08
  19.   WE MUST ATTACK NOW 04:31  |  NEIL GOLAN 09/06/08
  20.   well 05:42  |  Todd 09/06/08
  21.   Did the kibbuttzim support the disengagement? 08:20  |  Raphael 09/06/08
  22.   # 12 maybe you need to expand your views, gilbert in macon 09:41  |  eric 09/06/08
  23.   The Left strikes again 15:38  |  peter 09/06/08
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