Palestinian Citizens of Israel Unprotected and Unwarned: 2 Children killed in Nazareth

Residents of Nazareth complained of the lack of shelters and warning systems in the city after a Katyusha rocket killed two brothers aged nine and three on Wednesday.

The mayor of Nazareth, Ramez Jeraisi, has been asking for the funds to build public shelters in the city for some time. "I have discussed the issue with the Ministry of Interior and the Home Front, and they have said there is no money for them."

 
For the Jewish citizens of Upper Nazareth, the neighbouring Jewish city, there are a number of shelters. As opposed to the Jewish sector, the Arab and Druze home front can’t take refuge in bomb shelters or reinforced rooms, and they don’t have the benefit of warning sirens.

 
Moreover, the Home Front Command does not publish its announcements in Arabic, and the Palestinian towns themselves don’t qualify for government aid for being in the "line of fire.".  At times of war the state deals only with the Jewish home front

 
Barhoum Jaraisi, who lives in the northern neighbourhood of Sufafra where the children were killed said, “When dealing with Arabs, the establishment doesn’t care if we get hit. We’re used to this. It’s nothing new,” he said. “When there were rocket strikes on Monday in Nazareth Illit (Upper) nearby, their siren went off. But here no one was told to enter shelters. I called the police and asked why, and they said they’d get back to me. No one has gotten back to me yet".

This was not the first Hezbollah strike on one of the 100 or so Arab communities inside – several have been hit in the past few days – but the two children, Rabia and Mohammed Abu Taluzi, were the first deaths among ’s 1.2 million Arab citizens.

Several residents pointed out that there are military installations near Nazareth that Hezbollah has been trying to target. Northern Israel is under martial law, which means that divulging details about the nature of the installations and their locations is forbidden. :"We are like human shields. They build these military sites close to Arab communities because they hope it will make Hezbollah more frightened to strike at them", said one resident..

Until the deaths of the children, the media had demonstrably ignored the bombs and missiles that have landed on Druze and Arab communities and the despair of those citizens has not been heard.  

Home Front Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Garshon met Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jaraisi on Thursday to discuss measures to protect residents of the Arab Israeli city.

Maj.-Gen. Garshon told Jaraisi that citizens should be told to seek shelter in enclosed space upon hearing a siren, despite the fact that there are no sirens in Nazareth, repeating claims that no shelters are needed. He said he will return to the city as a citizen in more peaceful times.

*this article was also sourced from PNN, YNET, and Al Jazeer Net