A WOMAN who left Southend to start a new life in Israel has described her mission to help those who have been caught up in the bloody conflict with Palestine.

Rona Hart, 65, a former member of the Council of Christians and Jews, has been a prominent member of Southend’s Jewish community for the past 20 years.

She emigrated to Israel in September and now lives in Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel built on the slopes of Mount Carmel.

It is from here she has watched the bloody conflict between Israel and Gaza unfold in recent weeks.

A ceasefire has now brought a welcome, if uneasy, peace, giving Miss Hart and other volunteers an opportunity to help the people of Sderot, who have suffered rocket attacks from Palestine.

Haifa has been in the firing line of Hezbollah artillery in the past.

At an age when most people would be thinking about putting their feet up, Miss Hart remains undaunted by the turmoil that surrounds everyday life in Israel and is determined to do all she can to help those worst affected by the conflict. Explaining what prompted the move, she said: “I chose to go to Israel partly for the adventure and partly because I am not sure there is a great future for Jews outside Israel.

“I have never come into contact with any real anti-semitism in Southend, but there was just so much anti-Israel feeling and a lot of it was not justified.

“Every country makes mistakes, but I feel the level of feeling against Israel itself was beyond what was reasonable or rational.”

Now just about settled in her new flat, Miss Hart is preparing to carry out support work with the Sderot community, where she says people live in almost constant fear of rockets being fired from Gaza at the behest of the Palestinian ruling party Hamas.

She said: “Sderot is quite a poor town where people have been under bombardment for years. They get 15 seconds warning when a rocket is coming. They could be making a cup of tea or some other everyday task, but they must immediately think of where their escape route is.

“They can have 20 rockets a day so we are really hoping the current ceasefire will hold.

“It’s a risk, but I think if they can live there then I can go and visit. It would be really feeble of me not to.

“We will be going to the area and shopping there because their economy has been badly hit and that will help them most.

“It is particularly traumatic for the children, so we will be taking them for weekends away, but there is much yet to be organised.”

Israel said it launched its offensive on December 27 to stop cross-border rocket attacks by militants in Gaza against its civilians.

The intense fighting ended last Sunday after 22 days, with both sides declaring a ceasefire.

Palestinian medical officials said about 1,300 Palestinians were killed and thousands more were injured. Thirteen Israelis died during the conflict.

The Israelis have not been shielded from the horrific scenes played out TV screens around the world in recent weeks and Miss Hart says people in Israel are as shocked and upset as others.

She said: “It is very upsetting and distressing when you see innocent peoplekilled. I haven’t heard any Israelis say anything other than that, but what is the answer? We had to stop the rockets because they were coming over in their thousands.

“When one or two Israelis are killed or lose a limb it doesn’t make the headlines so much as when there are many deaths at once, but there have been many killed in Israel.”

Like many across the world, Israelis are heralding the inauguration of Barrack Obama as the dawn of a new era, but though he has been urged to make the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians one of his top priorities, Miss Hart fears he has a lot to live up to.

She said: “It is a very exciting time, but I think everyone is projecting on to him what they want to see. He has a very big job to do and I pray for him to have all the luck in the world.”

Impact of the Jews’ revenge on Gaza

THE impact of Israel’s revenge on Gaza for rocket attacks on its people has been profound and bloody. In just three weeks of fighting 1,300 Palestinians, more than 300 of them children, have lost their lives. In many areas piles of rubble are all that is left of homes. Israelis have faced criticism from around the world for the disproportionate ferocity and extent of their attack on Gaza. The Israeli military operation also used bombs containing white phosphorus, which burns to the bone when it comes into contact with flesh, causing horrific and needless injuries to the civilian population. In addition, the UN’s atomic energy agency is currently looking into complaints that Israel may have used weapons containing depleted uranium.

Creating a country

  • Israel was created in 1948 by dividing the former British mandate of Palestine. It is home to 6.9 million people.
  • There has been conflict between Israel and her neighbours ever since. Palestinians were displaced, and several wars were fought involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
  • The Israel settlements on the West Bank are home to 400,000 people and are illegal under international law
  • Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade
  • Hamas, which now governs the four million people of Palestine, is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. It regards the whole of historic Palestine as Islamic land and therefore views the state of Israel as an occupier.