Late last month, a Hezbollah rocket directly struck the Arab Israeli city of Tamra in the Lower Galilee. A 57-year-old woman was severely wounded and lost her leg in the attack. An additional victim is still hospitalized. While the blame for these injuries lies squarely on Hezbollah, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the city of Tamra, with a population of 36,600 people, has no public underground bomb shelters (“miklat”) and only five small portable shelters (“migunit”).
Rana Fahoum-Shama, a resident of Tamra, told Davar that no one in her neighborhood has reinforced security rooms in the homes. (Since 1993, new buildings in Israel have been required to include these reinforced rooms, known as “mamadim,” but older buildings lack this security measure.)
“When there are sirens, we go down to Hami’s house on the lower level. It’s the most secure,” Fahoum-Shama said. “Protection in Tamra does not allow residents to be defended.”
Fahoum-Shama said that her children’s school has only two small protected rooms, which has forced children to study in capsules, rather than the whole student body attending at once. One of the city’s five portable shelters is located by the school, but unlike a standard underground shelter, it holds only a small number of people.
“Residents of Tamra feel abandoned, like the state doesn’t care about them,” Fahoum-Shama said. “It’s a feeling that we don’t count as residents. We’re in danger and we don’t know what to do, and the government isn’t protecting us. There’s fear. People aren’t comfortable leaving the city, going away from their homes.”
She said that upon hearing sirens, residents fearfully check that their family members are alright. “Every time there are strikes here, the citizens hope that there wasn’t anyone killed,” she said. “Despite the injuries and the serious damage, our hope is that no one will die.”
In other Arab municipalities, the situation is much the same. The nearby town of Jadeidi-Makr, which heard sirens 38 times over the past month, has only five portable shelters and no public underground shelters for 20,200 residents. In the town of Majd al-Krum, with a population of 15,200, there exists only six portable shelters and one underground bomb shelter. That lack of shelters contributed to the death of two young people in a Hezbollah attack in Majd al-Krum last month. The city of Shefa-Amr, population 43,600, has only six public shelters and three portable shelters. A mother and her 21-year-old son were killed there earlier this month.
In response to the many rocket strikes on Arab towns, the umbrella organization representing Arab Israelis recently called on Arabs to delay the annual olive harvest. “Members of my husband’s family should have harvested olives over the weekend and they didn’t go because there were strikes on open areas that the Iron Dome doesn’t protect. It’s dangerous,” Fahoum-Shama said. “It’s no joke. Two people were killed in Shefa-Amr harvesting olives.”
She said that some Arab Israelis have chosen not to delay the olive harvest since it’s an important source of income. “How long can you delay? One week, two weeks? The olive harvest season ends this month,” she said.
The price of olive oil has also risen as a result of farmers not harvesting their olives, she added.
Fahoum-Shama believes the lack of protection is the result of discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens. “If the state wanted to protect its Arab citizens, it would initiate that based on similar events in which Arab citizens paid the price,” she said. “The lack of initiative is proof of the state’s discrimination toward Arab citizens.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
