The article incorrectly described Nazareth as part of the West Bank. It is an Israeli town north of the West Bank.
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Food and Medical Supplies Grow Scarce in the Gaza Strip
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"It looks like this whole kibbutz has fallen asleep," Langere lamented as he sat outside his white house looking at the weeds and mud patches in the communal area. "It used to be very nice. Now, it is a catastrophe. Now, you see no grass, no birds."
He said he approved of Israel's strikes on Gaza. "The best step is what the Israeli Defense Forces are doing," he said.
At 1:30 p.m., a huge whoosh, like the sound of a giant arrow sailing through the air, forced Langere to look up at the sky.
"A rocket launched from a helicopter," he said calmly.
A few minutes later, a helicopter flew overhead, resembling a tan mosquito. "It's an Apache," Langere said.
Everyone in the kibbutz knows the sounds of war. Schwartz's children grew up, she said, learning the difference between artillery shells and mortar shells. Schwartz pointed at a crater from a rocket that landed near the kibbutz's office and tore a hole in the sidewalk. The windows of the office, however, did not shatter. They were bomb-proofed.
At 1:50 p.m., a fighter jet creased the sky. Schwartz instinctively stepped into a small bomb shelter. "Now, they are going to start bombing."
Eight minutes later, a thud in the distance. "It was a weak bomb. Or it was far away," Schwartz explained matter-of-factly.
Her brothers have tried to convince her to leave the kibbutz and move further inland. She has refused. "I was born here. I built this house. I am not leaving," Schwartz said.
She cares little about the politics surrounding her predicament or the appropriate solution to end the tensions. "I don't care how it is done," she said. "I just want it to be quiet here."
On Sunday, Palestinian workers, hands and faces coated with cement, worked feverishly to build the shelters. "The leaders of Israel and the leaders of Hamas are to blame. This is the reality," said Taha Hussein, 43, from the West Bank town of Nazareth. "Both sides are wrong."
His co-worker Alah Qarariya saw the irony of Palestinians building bomb shelters for Israelis, but he said he has no choice. "Why am I here? It's because of poverty," said Qarariya, from the West Bank town of Jenin. "Here, they have money to build. There," he added, looking toward Gaza, "they have only God to protect them."
