Fran Waddams recently attended a talk given in Birmingham by ex-mayor of Sderot, David Bouskali, organised by the Jewish National Fund, the newly formed West Midlands Friends of Israel (contact details below) and West Midlands based Kingdom Ambassadors.

An audience with an ‘Ad-mayor-able’ man

“I lay awake at night worrying about the children of Gaza.” Are these the words of a leader from Hamas, the ruling party of Gaza? From Mahmoud Abbas? A prominent member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, perhaps? No. They were uttered by Sderot’s ex-Mayor David Bouskila, who is currently in the UK as the guest of the Jewish National Fund UK, whose members have funded some high profile projects in the beleaguered Southern Israel town. Mr Bouskali was addressing a well attended meeting of Jews and Christians from the West Midlands and beyond.

After the 1967 Six Day War, there were relatively good relations between Israelis and the Palestinians of Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians had good jobs in local factories and farms; Israelis visited Gaza beaches and restaurants. That all changed in the Intifada of 2000 when missiles began to rain down on Sderot from Gaza. Since then, over 8,000 have hit Sderot itself, with thousands more hitting the surrounding villages, farms and cities.

A large proportion of Sderot residents, adults and children suffer from Ongoing Stress Trauma – a recognised condition similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but suffered during an ongoing conflict. Hardly surprising when people have just 15 seconds’ warning of an incoming missile to find a bomb shelter, or to decide which child needs most help to get from their bed to a place of safety before the missile explodes somewhere in the vicinity.

Perhaps Mayor David could be forgiven for viewing all Palestinians as ‘the enemy’. Yet this is far from the case. On a visit to a primary school he and the children had to go to the safe room as missiles were fired from Gaza. “The Palestinians are very bad people, they are trying to kill us!” said one frightened child. “I told him, ‘No’,” recalls David. “I said, ‘There are a million people in Gaza. Perhaps two thousand, maybe more, want to kill us. But there are many, many more who don’t want to fire missiles at us, but can’t stop the ones who do.”

Bouskila reserves his contempt for Gaza’s ruling party Hamas. “In our schools”, he says, “We teach our children to have love for all people, and not to hurt people.” In Gaza, the children are set maths problems like ‘Three Israelis are walking down a street and you kill two of them. How many are left?’ They are taught to hate. I lie awake at night worrying about the children of Gaza”.

Yet in spite of all the difficulties of living in a town that is the first target of a terrorist organisation, with so many people needing counselling and psychiatric help, Sderot leads the country in producing talented rock musicians. David describes how the town put instruments into cupboards in bomb shelters and gave the young people of the town keys to the cupboards. “People started to play them, and now it’s said that musicians have an advantage if they come from Sderot.”

Bouskali recently made headlines in Israel when he held a one-man demonstration, camping outside the Ministry of the Interior to protest against funding cuts. He’s frustrated that the needs of Sderot are so often overlooked by the government. But this is where JNFUK come in. “It’s remarkable, but after a charity gives £1 to a project in Sderot, somehow the money can be found to match each £ with £2!” he chuckles.

It was a privilege to hear such a remarkable and self-effacing man speak about his life in one of the most battle-scarred places in a battle-scarred nation. May he enjoy his life after mayor-hood. Somehow, it’s hard to see him being any less busy than before!

For further details of West Midlands Friends of Israel, contact westmidlandsfriendsofisrael@gmail.com