Baby Boom Puts More Preschool Toddlers Under Threat of Qassams

Haaretz
October 28, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/358/baby-boom-puts-more-preschool-toddlers-under

Preschool centers in towns and villages surrounding the Gaza Strip are vulnerable to Qassam rocket fire, putting toddlers' lives at risk despite a government decision to reinforce every structure within seven kilometers of the Palestinian territory.

"If need be, I'll ask the residents of the Eshkol regional council to stop having children, because we haven't got sheltered day-care centers to put them in," warns Haim Yalin, the head of the Qassam-stricken Eshkol regional council, which borders the Gaza Strip.

Over the past year the number of births in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip has increased despite the region's precarious security situation: Thirty-seven children were born in the moshav Ein Habesor and another 25 in Kibbutz Be'eri. There are currently four designated preschools in Ein Habesor but only two of them are fully sheltered from rockets. Yalin asked the Housing Ministry to provide funds to build additional sheltered preschools but his request was rejected.

"The calm is causing our decision makers to fall asleep at the wheel," Tamara Cohen, the mother of a year-old girl, said, referring to the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which has led to the cessation of violent exchanges in recent months but not to an end to Qassam rockets.

"At the moment our kids are not protected despite the government's decision. How does that fit in with the grim warnings over the rearming of Hamas militants?"

Parents complain that their toddlers are expected to recognize when an alarm is heard and crawl toward protected areas. Some parents have decided to send their children to preschools outside the rockets' range.

Anat Chen, a mother of a 2-year-old, is also deeply concerned. "I'm scared of sending my kids to the day-care center," Chen said. "This is absolute negligence."

Yalin added: "As council head, I will not yield until the government of Israel will find the funds for the parents and their children. Zionism free of cynicism is a just cause."

The Housing Ministry said in response that it cannot allocate additional funds to reinforce preschools against Qassams in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip because the funds allocated for this have already been spent. It added that regional councils have several alternative sources such as the Ministry of Infrastructures for such construction funds.

Yalin says he plans to ask the Prime Minister's Office to intervene directly in the matter.

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