A commemorative wall made from the ruins of the police station in Sderot, tall columns symbolizing pain and resurrection, music composed by artists from the city and words of resilience from residents: Tthis is what the first official memorial site for the terrorist attack, which was built in recent days in Sderot, will look like. The construction of the site is expected to be completed in a few days, and it will be opened on the anniversary of the massacre.
Seven million shekels were allocated for the construction of the commemorative site, and it will be built in the area of the former Sderot police station, which was destroyed in the surprise attack when terrorists barricaded themselves inside. Since the ruins were removed, the area has been cleared and construction work has begun on the site. The ruins of the police station will be part of the memorial wall in memory of 70 murdered in Sderot: 31 residents of the city, and the rest members of the security forces who defended it and civilians who happened to be in the area and were murdered on that day.
The site was established after much thought and with the cooperation of the bereaved families. The commemoration committee, headed by the deputy mayor of Sderot Yehudit Oliel Malka, examined a series of proposals and finally came to a decision. In the center of the site, 18 columns will be placed adjacent to each other in a circle, and there will be an empty space in the middle, Oliel Malka explained to Ynet and Yediot Ahronoth.
"We collected phrases of resilience that we took from the community in Sderot, phrases of residents and bereaved families, and quotations from other sources, and they are engraved on the columns. In addition, there is a soundtrack written by citizens of Sderot, Ran Elmaleh and Haim Oliel, which will be played every time the visitors will enter," Shlomit Etzba, the curator of the memorial site, said.
"The thing that was most essential for me, since the site is located in the heart of a residential neighborhood, is to preserve the public space," she added. That is, on the one hand it will be an honorable memory, but on the other hand it will also be a blooming and pleasant garden that symbolizes revival and hope, and blends in with the existing landscape. During the attack, 31 residents of Sderot were murdered and will be immortalized there with their photos and the story of their lives, as the families requested."
IDF forces break into the Sderot police station
The construction work will be completed in the coming days, and on the anniversary of the massacre a large ceremony will be held at the site. The project is led by the CEO of the Sderot Development Fund, Michael Siman-Tov; the director of the Tourism and Commemoration Department at the Sderot Fund, Chen Cohen; and Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi.
"The new monument erected in our city, in the heart of the city, where the old police station stood, is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between the bereaved families, the residents of the city, and our professional teams. The bereaved families were full partners in every step of the planning and design, and their voices and needs were at the center the commemoration process," Davidi noted.
"The memorial and its location symbolize the strength, perseverance and unity of the Sderot community, and will be a place where everyone can observe the memory of the fallen and draw inspiration from the way we dealt with the pain," he concluded. "I believe it will be a source of hope, comfort and strength for everyone who visits it, and remind us the mutual guarantee and resilience of the Sderot community."