SAKHNIN, Israel: Threatened by volleys of Hezbollah rockets and missiles from Iran, residents of Arab towns in northern Israel are complaining about a lack of public shelters.
“The state is obliged to build public shelters so that the entire population has access to safe havens,” Mazen Ghanayem, mayor of the town of Sakhnin, told AFP.
“Yet our town doesn’t have a single public shelter worthy of the name.”
Located just 20 kilometres from the border with Lebanon, the town’s 36,000 residents have grown all too used to the rockets fired by Hezbollah.
Since the militant group joined the Middle East war on the side of its backer Tehran, after Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran, Sakhnin has lived with the rhythm of air raid sirens.
“Sometimes rocket fragments fall on houses,” Ghanayem said.
Perched on a hillside, the town’s Arab identity, both Muslim and Christian, is clear to see. The domes of mosques jut into the air alongside church spires.
Its football club, which plays in the Israeli premier league, is a source of pride. So too is an uprising by Israel’s Arab minority which, in 1976, forced the state to back down in its attempt to confiscate local land.
- ‘Rather get hit’ -
When the sirens blare, “residents first take shelter in their homes, as best they can if the house is old or in a secure room if the building is new,” explained Kasim Abu Raya, a municipal official.
For those caught out in the open, there are no underground car parks to dash to in this modest town.
Abu Raya showed a video on his mobile phone of his wife and daughter when they were out in the road during an alert.
