Living in a Country at War Part III: The Aftermath

*Just found out a couple of days ago that our next door neighbors' youngest son who is in the army spent the whole war on the front line in the thickest part of the fighting. We had no idea. And even though the mother suspected it; she really didn't know either where he was. He kept on lying to her the whole time telling her that he was in safe areas. Their next oldest son is also in the army and in an intelligence unit-he kept on backing up what the other brother was saying. Even so, Sara (that's her name) hasn't slept the whole month. She told us that even sleeping pills didn't help she was so sick with worry.

*Asher is one of the owners of Archeological Seminars, the company I worked for this summer. He also happens to be a company commander in a reserve paratroop battalion. He was, of course, called up a few days into the war and once the generals and politicians finally committed themselves to sending in the ground troops, Asher went into southern Lebanon with his company and fought for at least a couple of weeks. He spoke about his experiences Friday at lunch: his basic assessment is that it was all for nothing and that the IDF is going to have to do it all over again. Not only because of the way the war was handled and fought, but also because of what they found. He said that even though they knew about the bunkers, and how well entrenched Hezbollah was in the villages and the surrounding countryside, there was a complete intelligence failure as to how intricate the bunkers and defenses were. First of all he said that in each village there was a line of bunkers and then behind the village in the fields there was another line of bunkers. The bunker systems had lots of rooms including food storage and sleeping.

The bunkers were anywhere from six to 15 meters deep. But the most amazing thing about them according to Asher was katusha rocket launchers were put underground in bunkers. Hezbollah had dug silos so that the rockets could only be launched in one direction. So you had dozens of these bunkers, deep underground, with katusha launchers pointed at our cities. This is why they were able to keep firing at us. It didn't matter how many katusha launchers mounted on trucks or hidden in the fields we destroyed; they were still able to shoot at our cities from the launchers hidden in the bunkers.

Asher said the complexes were incredible, their entrances hidden with plastic plants and trees. They had multiple entrances and observation points. Hezbollah laid mines in certain areas around their bunker complexes in order to "channel" attacking forces in order to funnel them into an ambush. This worked on several occasions. Many of these bunkers they just bypassed in the push north not wanting to risk extensive causalities by entering them. One or two the IDF managed to subdue by dropping firebombs in them and burning the terrorists out. So basically one of the things we have are Hezbollah fighters still hunkered down in their bunkers and tunnels waiting us out until the IDF withdraws.

*We went to dinner on Friday night at Marcel and Anat's house. Marcel is an old friend of mine from ulpan class. We have known each other for 15 years. Marcel is originally from England. His wife is Yeminite-Israeli. He had been back from reserve duty in the southern West Bank about a week. The general consensus among us and among most Israelis is that Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Peretz, and Chief of Staff Halutz totally mismanaged the war and we are going to have to fight Hezbollah again and soon. It's only a matter of time. Anat gives the Olmert government 3 months. I say, if it falls, six months. The sharks are already circling Olmert and Peretz. Many are calling for their resignation as well as Halutz's.

*A government committee was appointed to investigate the handling of the war. It is headed by a former chief of staff of the army who also happened to be one of Defense Minister Peretzs' advisors during the war. We are all expecting a whitewash when the committee finishes its deliberations. Even so all of the politicians and high ranking army officers have all engaged lawyers. I guess everybody is covering their asses.

*There are commercials on the TV warning people not to handle any pieces of katusha rockets they might find because of the danger of unexploded ordinance. On the news I saw pictures of hundreds of police and army recruits searching for katusha rockets which are still in the hills and fields of the north.

If We Are Lucky

The joke yesterday at work was that Monday morning the ceasefire would start and by Tuesday morning the third Lebanon War would begin. It is a distinct possibility, because we did not win this war. Call it arrogance, call it incompetence, call it wavering or hesitancy or the hubris of our political and military leaders; call it whatever you want but we squandered these last four and a half weeks, bringing only misery to the two million residents of the north and to the citizens of Lebanon.
There was no decisive victory. Hezbollah still has its weapons. They were able to fire 250 katusha rockets at us yesterday. Syria and Iran are still supplying them with weapons. They will be able to claim the victory that eluded us.

However, if we are lucky, something good might come out of this. If we are lucky the international community might get their act together and send the troops, although how they are going to assist the 15,000 troops that the Lebanese say they are going to deploy into the south is still unclear to me. I mean, can we really expect them to fight Hezbollah? If we are lucky the international community and the UN will force Resolution 1701 to be implemented. If we are lucky the Lebanese government is really serious about exerting their rule over all of their country. A lot depends on if…

We have at least demonstrated to the world that enough is enough. That there is a limit to how much, in the name of "restraint," we are willing to have rockets reign down on our cities in the north and the south. Hopefully, the IDF has been shocked out of their complacency regarding Hezbollah and the threat that they do pose to Israel.

Again we have to hold our breath and hope for the best. This is what we have done during the last thirteen years: with the Oslo Accords, the withdrawal from Lebanon, the Second Intifada, the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and now this war. It still amazes me that in over a month of fighting we couldn't destroy a 7,000 man terrorist army. I don't care how well armed or entrenched they were. Forty years ago, in six days, we defeated the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Where was the leadership, the boldness in planning and the fortitude to get the job done so that we could all sleep a little safer? A few years from now, when my boys are in the military, will they have to pay for the mistakes that this generation of politicians and generals have made?

And what of Syria and Iran? If anybody has come out the victor in this conflict it is them. They got off scot free. Where is the international condemnation? The sanctions? It is amazing. These two terrorist sponsoring countries ignore the sovereignty of Lebanon, arm a proxy army to the teeth, help it create a state within a state and use this proxy army to attack Israel. The west does nothing. Doesn't acknowledge or see the threat that this poses. Syria and Iran are still to this day sending arms to Hezbollah, despite Resolution 1701 calling for an arms embargo for Lebanon. Exporting the Islamic revolution is more important than their obligations as members of the UN. If we are lucky the West will wake up soon and realize what a threat these two countries, especially Iran are to peace and stability. But not to worry, whatever happens, I'm sure that Israel will get the blame. We are a convenient scapegoat for the Western world's shortcomings and head in the sand policies. Unfortunately Israel is not so lucky.

Living in a Country at War Part II

*Four weeks of war and no end in sight. I think that we all thought the fighting would have finished by now and we would be moving fully into the diplomatic phase. Once this war is over there will be a lot of analysis and recriminations. How this war is being fought is being hotly debated in Israel. Yesterday, the Israeli government made the decision to invade Lebanon up until the Litani River. Something they should have done three weeks ago after it became obvious that air attacks were not going to defeat Hezbollah. This also means sending tens of thousands of reservists, who just days ago were leading their normal lives, into battle. It is a heavy decision.

*I am watching less news, especially CNN and Sky. As the casualties increase the root causes of the war are forgotten. Israel is increasingly vilified. The damage and pain inflicted on Israel a peripheral part of the story. Doesn't the world wonder how a terrorist group-oops, excuse me-militant group is able to wield an army of 7,000 fighters equipped with 15,000 missiles, sagger missiles, rpg's, morters, recoilless rifles and much much more? I suppose it is not interesting that Hezbollah was supplied by Iran, that they effectively created there own state within a state in south Lebanon, that even though Israel withdrew across the internationally recognized border, Hezbollah has armed, continued to attack, and educate and preach that Israel has to be destroyed. As a proxy of Iran they were actively preparing for that. Is the world really interested as to why all of these villages are being destroyed in South Lebanon? What exactly was Hezbollah doing in southern Lebanese villages these last six years: we know what they were doing-building bunkers, tunnels, arms storage, katusha launch sights. They were turning these villages into armed military zones.

*This past Saturday night, buses came and took away thousands of Kiryat Shemona residents who had been in their bomb shelters since the beginning of the war. The plan is to take all 17,000 residents who stayed in the city away on a rotating basis for a few days of rest. Last week a few hundred Nahariya residents who had been sent to a hotel in Beersheva refused to get on buses that were supposed to take them back to Nahariya. I don't blame them. What the hell does the government expect?

*Over 1 million residents still in bomb shelters. Over 300,000 have left becoming displaced persons in their own country. Crops are not being harvested. Hundreds of thousands of people haven't worked in a month. Bank accounts are empty. Stores are not stocked. The government and charity organizations are taking the responsibility of feeding an ever growing population who have no funds. The cash machines are empty anyway since nobody is risking their life to fill them. Tens of thousands of children traumatized, thousands of people not getting their medicine or regular treatment. The situation is getting worse and worse in the north. Over 3,200 missiles have been fired at our cities.

*The rest of us-those that are not directly in the line of fire have slowly been going numb. There is only so much that we can do-we try and live our lives as normal as possible. My children, thank god are still having a good summer. They are already getting a little nervous about the beginning of the school year which is only three weeks away. They are also wondering how they are going to fill their time the rest of the summer. Joyce and I are wondering that as well.

*I bought a new computer yesterday. But it will take a few days to get it. All imports are coming in only to the Ashdod port since we can't use the port of Haifa. Because of this there is obviously a major backlog at the port and many ships are even turning around fully loaded because they are not willing to wait. My computer is being delayed because the store is waiting for a shipment of motherboards. One wonders what other goods are not reaching the country because of the war.

*Brave voices do exist telling it like it is. This is a quote from an article written by Lebanese Journalist Michael Behe. Follow the link to the full ariticle.

Michael Behe, The New Republic The Abdication of Lebanese Leaders,
Act of Denial. 7 august, 2006
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060807&s=behe080706

"It is easy now to whine and gripe, and to play the hypocritical role of victims. We know full well how to get others to pity us and to claim that we are never responsible for the horrors that regularly occur on our soil. Of course, that is nothing but rubbish! The Security Council's Resolution 1559--that demanded that our government deploy our army on our sovereign territory, along our international border with Israel and that it disarm all the militia on our land--was voted on September 2, 2004.
We had two years to implement this resolution and thus guarantee a peaceful future to our children, but we did absolutely nothing. Our greatest crime--which was not the only one!--was not that we did not succeed, but that we did not attempt or undertake anything. And that was the fault of none else than the pathetic Lebanese politicians.
Our government, from the very moment the Syrian occupier left, let ships and truckloads of arms pour into our country. Without even bothering to look at their cargo. They jeopardized all chances for the rebirth of our country by confusing the Cedar Revolution with the liberation of Beirut. In reality, we had just received the chance--a sort of unhoped-for moratorium--that allowed us to take the future into our own hands, nothing more."

This was written last Wednesday, August 2

Three weeks to the day since this war started. We all hope that it ends soon. I, as well as the vast majority of people here feel that we are in a war that must be fought. We cannot go back to the situation before July 12 with Hezbollah on our border with their thousands of rockets pointed at our cities and with Iran and Syria continuing to support them and undermine Lebanese sovereignty. This war must end with Hezbollah either disarmed or strongly weakened and with the Lebanese army deploying on their southern border. I agree that a strong multi national force on our border including Lebanese troops is needed. Lebanon must take full control of all its territory and Israel must be free of the Hezbollah threat and its attacks. Fundamentalist Islamic terrorism and the countries who sponsor them (Iran, Syria) must be handed a defeat. I know how the following will sound, but it is true: It is important for the world and for the fight against these people who consider the west-Israel, United States, Holland, etc. –the enemy.

The last three weeks have been spent watching constantly the news, especially the Israeli news. And worrying about the situation, hoping that the war reaches some turning point. We have mourned every death, watched Katusha rockets rain down on our cities, causing death, injury and destruction. We hear the stories from all over about thousands of families from the north being hosted by people in the center and the south of the country. We see the effect the war has on the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who haven't left the north and are still stuck in the bomb shelters and their safe rooms. The majority of those who are left are mostly the poor, the infirm and the sick. Some are recent immigrants with no place to go; others are defient refusing to let Hezbollah and their deliberate targeting of civilian areas.

We have managed to live a normal life. Zoe still goes to day care. We have been informed that because she is so advanced she is skipping a level and going straight from toddler day care to nursery school level. My daughter the genius. Adar and Nadav are having a wonderful summer. Currently they are attending a day camp at a kibbutz about midway between us and Jerusalem. There is a bus which takes them there every morning and drops them off in the afternoon. Every day there is a different theme at the camp and a different performers. Today the saw a juggler and couldn't stop talking about it when they came home.

Joyce and I still go to work. Joyce doesn't have much work to do. Several people in her office have been laid off, but at the moment her job is safe. I have continued to work. Since the war started i have only worked one day less. Although there have been lost of cancellations and Archeological Seminars, the company that runs the archeological sight where I dig has lost a lot of work. All the the teen tours that were touring Israel at the start of the war stayed. There was a lot of itinerary changing going on, but all of these groups visit us during their stay anyway. However other groups such as family groups have cancelled. Although I must say that some groups and even families are still arriving for their summer vacation. Just today for instance, I guided a Jewish student group from England and in the afternoon I guided several families who all had come to Israel for their vacation. As it stands now I am working most of the days that I originally was scheduled although most of them will probably be half days instead of full days.

A couple of Saturdays we have managed to go to a couple of national parks so we can enjoy some family time together. Tomorrow night Grandma and Grandpa come for a short visit. The kids are really looking forward to that.
Life goes on. And that is the most important thing that we can do at the moment.
I am forwarding to all of you something that a friend of mine wrote after his visit to northern Israel yesterday. I thought it might be of interest to some of you to see the experience of others.

Take care all,
Danny





i went up north sunday to help friends of mine who are coordinating a relief effort in tzfat.....their town which is 8 miles from the lebanese border and has been hit pretty hard.....25,000 out of the 35,000 who live there have left leaving behind the sick, elderly and the poor....i spent 24 hours making food and medicine runs in and out of bomb shelters....i had people come up to me on the street and ask for food for their children.....

i wasn't the only one with a list of people and addresses...but i know not everyone was being reached....the people we found in the bomb shelters had been there for the better part of 2 weeks.....i personally evacuated a young woman who is a paraplegic to the emergency room, she was out of her meds and not doing well at all.....thank goodness it was during the 24 hour cease fire, i only saw one katusha land a ways out of town....

when i woke up Monday morning after hearing the 155mm howitzers going off every 5 minutes or so all night i heard the unmistakable sound of small arms fire followed by explosions the tell tale sign of a battle raging right on the other side of the border...this went on for some 20-25 minutes.....if you have ever fired a shot in anger the smell is what comes back somewhere in your brain triggered by those not so far away sounds

humanitarian crisis? how about 300,000 israelis forced into bomb shelters from rockets that are packed with ball bearing to maximize casualties.....the rockets targeted not at military bases but at women, children, the elderly and anyone else that is unfortunate enough to be in the way.....make no mistake we are fighting for our very existence.......even as we sit here in the comfort of our tel aviv suburb we are not only in range of their rockets but we await as the iranians are pulling hizbullahs string like a bad marionette.....is today our day.....

this is not some existential disagreement......there is no room on our battlefield for camus, nietzsche, kant or even hemingway.......this is not glorious and we most certainly to not gain pleasure from this.....our soldiers go into battle knowing that if they are not successful it is their families that will fall after them....a greater motivation is not known to man.....our greatest sorrow is that we will lose sons and husbands, fathers and brothers.....each one a precious gift to our country and our people

zaq harrison