SEDEROT

SEDEROT (Heb. שְׂדֵרוֹת), development town in the southern Coastal Plain of Israel 11 mi. (18 km.) S. of Ashkelon. Sederot's beginnings were in 1951, when immigrants from Kurdistan and Persia were housed in temporary huts near kibbutz *Nir Am and found occasional employment as hired laborers, mainly in farming, in the vicinity. In 1954 the place became a ma'barah (transitory immigrant camp), called Ma'barat Gevim-Dorot; it absorbed newcomers from North Africa. In 1956 it was declared a development town and permanent housing schemes were started. In the ensuing years, Sederot continued to suffer from unemployment caused by the lack of local industry, from an exorbitant burden of welfare cases, and consequently, from a large turnover of population. The situation improved in the 1960s when industries were set up in the town and the simultaneous industrialization of the region's kibbutzim provided additional places of work for Sederot residents. Projects were devised to attract skilled labor and professionals from among new immigrants and veteran Israelis, thus also attempting to diversify the town's population – 7,500 in 1970 – the majority of whom originated from North Africa, mainly Morocco. Local industry included enterprises in food packing (citrus, poultry, etc.), as well as metal and textile plants, cotton mills, etc. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 14,600, rising to 19,400 in 2002 on an area of around 2 sq. mi. (5 sq. km.). In 1996 Sederot received city status. Unemployment reached the 12% mark in the early 2000s. Located barely half a mile (800 m.) from Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, Sederot came under Kassam rocket attack in the al-Aqsa Intifada, with nearly 100 hitting the town between 2001 and 2004 and four residents killed and dozens injured. Dozens more hit the town after Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Sederot is known for its native rock groups (such as Tipex). Since 2001 its cinemateque has hosted the Southern Film Festival in conjunction with nearby Sapir College. It also operates ḥaredi and hesder yeshivot.

[Efraim Orni /

Shaked Gilboa (2^nd ed.)]