Monday night, almost midnight. I should be in bed, but I realize that two days have gone by and we haven't written anything. Haifa was very quiet today -- there were no sirens, no booms -- in fact the whole north of Israel was relatively quiet, though I have some friends way up near the border who can hear the sounds of the battles being waged. Today was hopeful -- there is a temporary break in the bombing by the Israeli airforce so that an investigation can be made of what happened in Cfar Qan and so that people can leave towns and villages targeted by the IAF as Hezbollah strongholds. Life in Haifa felt nearly normal.
I have nothing to say about the horrors that we have all seen on our television screens of what has happened in Lebanon. I guess that's what it means to say that something is unspeakable. There is a lot of talk about it here -- about the tragedy of civilian casualties. While everyone deplores what is happening, here in Israel people are also horrified by the coverage on TV and in magazines which presents images of the destruction in Lebanon, of refugees fleeing, of dead bodies, rarely mentioning the fact that Hezbollah harbors itself in the heart of civilian populations, using civilians as a cover. In fact Israel has leafletted all the villages and towns with warnings to the civilians about what was going to happen, has tried to run the civilians out of town so that it could attack Hezbollah without harming them. Of course many didn't want to leave or couldn't because they had no means to go. On Israeli television they have shown military tapes of trucks loaded with weapons being tracked right into the heart of neighborhoods. I've thought a lot about this -- it has even been suggested that Hezbollah is happy to sacrifice civilians (for they know full well what will happen) because it makes Israel look so bad. And I think -- well, how could that be true, how could people be so evil as to even think that way. As most of you know, I am an inveterate optimist and really quite loathe to think bad things about people. But you know, we all know about Hitler and the atrocities committed by Germany in WWII, and the cruelties perpetrated during that war. So it is possible for people to be as cruel as that, and it does look to me as though Hezbollah policy might just be that cruel... Anyhow, they have no compunctions about firing rockets and heavy-duty missles directly into civilian populations willy nilly because that's what's happening right here.
So tonight Ehud Olmert, the Prime-Minister gave a very strong and powerful speech about continuing the battle because any country has a right to defend itself against an enemy that is lobbing rockets and missles into civilian territory. In the last 20 days literally thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel. People in the North are living in bomb shelters or have left and are wandering around the country. There is certainly a consensus that if there is a cease-fire now it will only benefit Hezbollah because unless they are thoroughly weakened they will be able to re-arm and re-group and what is being visited upon Israel now will only come back in the future.
So I sit here in the middle of the night, frustrated and terribly sad about the situation we are in. There are already more than enough victims in this battle. Hundreds of people are dead, hundreds more wounded, thousands displaced, and not just in Lebanon either. I spoke with a wise man this morning, Yair Shazar, the husband of our physical therapist who drove me home and jumped my battery with his cables. I asked him (as I ask everyone) what he thought about what was happening. He said that he was sure that this is a "milchama mutzdeket" -- a justified war. But, he said, there is no solution to it. This is not just Israel's fight -- it is an international problem. It is not just Israel and Hezbollah -- it is the US and its war on terror, it is Iran, it is Syria -- it is not solvable by this battle. He's right. Israel is trying to clear a buffer zone which will be free of Hezbollah and patrolled by the Lebanese army and/or an international force and to destroy as much of Hezbollah's arsenal as possible. So that Hezbollah can no longer wage terror on this country. But the larger problem of terrorist factions in the Middle East will not be resolved by whatever resolution there is to the situation at hand. War can only hold the enemy at bay for a while. An international consensus for peace is the only real solution.
So off to bed. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. You are in ours.
Love,
Pat
I have nothing to say about the horrors that we have all seen on our television screens of what has happened in Lebanon. I guess that's what it means to say that something is unspeakable. There is a lot of talk about it here -- about the tragedy of civilian casualties. While everyone deplores what is happening, here in Israel people are also horrified by the coverage on TV and in magazines which presents images of the destruction in Lebanon, of refugees fleeing, of dead bodies, rarely mentioning the fact that Hezbollah harbors itself in the heart of civilian populations, using civilians as a cover. In fact Israel has leafletted all the villages and towns with warnings to the civilians about what was going to happen, has tried to run the civilians out of town so that it could attack Hezbollah without harming them. Of course many didn't want to leave or couldn't because they had no means to go. On Israeli television they have shown military tapes of trucks loaded with weapons being tracked right into the heart of neighborhoods. I've thought a lot about this -- it has even been suggested that Hezbollah is happy to sacrifice civilians (for they know full well what will happen) because it makes Israel look so bad. And I think -- well, how could that be true, how could people be so evil as to even think that way. As most of you know, I am an inveterate optimist and really quite loathe to think bad things about people. But you know, we all know about Hitler and the atrocities committed by Germany in WWII, and the cruelties perpetrated during that war. So it is possible for people to be as cruel as that, and it does look to me as though Hezbollah policy might just be that cruel... Anyhow, they have no compunctions about firing rockets and heavy-duty missles directly into civilian populations willy nilly because that's what's happening right here.
So tonight Ehud Olmert, the Prime-Minister gave a very strong and powerful speech about continuing the battle because any country has a right to defend itself against an enemy that is lobbing rockets and missles into civilian territory. In the last 20 days literally thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel. People in the North are living in bomb shelters or have left and are wandering around the country. There is certainly a consensus that if there is a cease-fire now it will only benefit Hezbollah because unless they are thoroughly weakened they will be able to re-arm and re-group and what is being visited upon Israel now will only come back in the future.
So I sit here in the middle of the night, frustrated and terribly sad about the situation we are in. There are already more than enough victims in this battle. Hundreds of people are dead, hundreds more wounded, thousands displaced, and not just in Lebanon either. I spoke with a wise man this morning, Yair Shazar, the husband of our physical therapist who drove me home and jumped my battery with his cables. I asked him (as I ask everyone) what he thought about what was happening. He said that he was sure that this is a "milchama mutzdeket" -- a justified war. But, he said, there is no solution to it. This is not just Israel's fight -- it is an international problem. It is not just Israel and Hezbollah -- it is the US and its war on terror, it is Iran, it is Syria -- it is not solvable by this battle. He's right. Israel is trying to clear a buffer zone which will be free of Hezbollah and patrolled by the Lebanese army and/or an international force and to destroy as much of Hezbollah's arsenal as possible. So that Hezbollah can no longer wage terror on this country. But the larger problem of terrorist factions in the Middle East will not be resolved by whatever resolution there is to the situation at hand. War can only hold the enemy at bay for a while. An international consensus for peace is the only real solution.
So off to bed. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. You are in ours.
Love,
Pat
posted by Frank and Pat Fischer at 11:25 PM
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