P.A. taken to task for tolerating crimes against women
Nearly one-quarter of Palestinian women are victims of domestic violence, abused or raped while governmental agencies do nothing to protect them, according to a new report.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch blamed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for failing to make violence against women and girls a legislative priority and urged the government to take steps to prevent it.
“PA officials across the political spectrum appear to view security only within the context of the ongoing conflict and occupation, all but ignoring the very real security threats that women and girls face at home,” said Farida Deif, a researcher in the Women’s Rights Division and co-author of the report.
The report found that violence against women “is getting worse while the remedies available to victims are being further eroded: Palestinian women and girls who report abuse to the authorities find themselves confronting a system that prioritizes the reputations of their families in the community over their own well-being and lives.”
Entitled “A Question of Security: Violence Against Palestinian Women and Girls,” the study documents cases of violence from spousal and child abuse to rape, incest and murder. It is based on research conducted in the Palestinian territories from November 2005 to early 2006.
Police officers and clan leaders regularly “mediate” rape cases by returning the abused women to the “care and protection” of their attackers, without referring cases to the courts. Few cases of sexual violence are ever prosecuted: According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Palestinian courts rendered only one rape conviction in 2004.
Laws reduce penalties for men accused of “honor killings” or attacks against female relatives who commit adultery and absolve rapists who agree to marry their victims. Rape within marriage is not considered a crime. Victims say they are often afraid to report abuse or rape.
Even social service centers, such as the Bethlehem Home for Girls, force pregnant girls to marry their rapist for the sake of the child. “The majority do not want to marry him [the rapist],” the head of the home told Human Rights Watch. “But the baby is what’s important.”
There’s also been an increase in incest cases and fathers don’t deny it. “They say, ‘I have a right to her body over others’ or ‘I want her to go to her husband experienced,’” said Lina Abd al-Hadi, the legal advisor to the governor of Nablus.
“When confronted with cases of violence against women and girls, the Palestinian criminal justice system is more interested in avoiding public scandal than in seeing justice done,” said Lucy Mair, the report’s other co-author. “A woman’s basic right to life and bodily integrity are seen as a secondary concern at best.”
Dec 1, 2006
A New Deal at the Shuk
From down and dirty to class act, Jerusalem’s market undergoes a renaissance
It is one of Jerusalem’s last bastions of gritty Israeli culture, the real bustle and chaos of Middle Eastern life. But now even the shuk has been swept up in the city’s continuing development and modernization.
Once the calling card for loud heckling, surly shopkeepers, harried shoppers—and bargains—the outdoor market has been invaded by swank cafes and gourmet food shops. It’s a twist as surprising as the imported specialties that now appear at every turn. Some even deign to describe the shuk, called Mahane Yehuda, as “yuppie.”
“It’s more like a yuppie destination now,” Ada Spitz, a Jerusalem native, told Israel Today. “They started selling sushi in the shuk. Who would’ve thought they’d sell sushi in the shuk?”
Spitz herself works in one of the new designer clothing shops surfacing in the market with designer—not shuk—prices.
New and old are now side by side: designer clothing, imported cheese, eclectic wine collections, cozy cafes and haute cuisine restaurants are interspersed between the traditional colorful arrays of fruits and vegetables, raw meat and fish, stacks of pitas and other breads, pastries, dried fruits and nuts, olives of all colors, and of course shwarma (meat roasted on a spit) and falafel shops, among many other things.
Woven together by alleys and nooks, the three lengthwise shuk streets off of Jerusalem’s main Jaffa Road are about a half a mile west of downtown. The new delicacy and designer shops combined with the city’s aesthetic renovations contributed to an upsurge in customers this past year, merchants say. They also credit a decline in terrorist attacks since the last one there on April 12th, 2002. The shuk was one of Jerusalem’s recurring targets for terrorism in the early years of the intifada (Palestinian uprising).
These “yuppie” changes seem to be welcomed by all so far, if not with a sniff of sarcasm from some old-timers. “We call that part ‘North Tel Aviv,’” said Yossi Ankona, a lifelong shop owner, making a dig at the new shops’ trendy ambiance not typically associated with the gruff shuk.
But Eli Mizrahi, considered by many the pioneer of this renaissance, resists that label. “Is it like France? Italy? Is it like Barcelona? No, it’s Mahane Yehuda!” he said, insisting that there was nothing out of place with a classy café in the midst of a grimy market.
Mizrahi, who grew up in the family’s shop at the shuk, took a risk four years ago when he opened up his gourmet coffee shop. “Fifty percent of the people thought I was a genius, 50 percent thought I was a lunatic,” he said. “But I knew this is something that was missing in the market. It changed the market totally.”
Considering the renewed busyness of the shuk and copious media coverage, Mizrahi proved genius. He has been followed by other “hip” shops including his own high end restaurant, Zahko, on the perimeter of the shuk. Mizrahi believes the time was right for attracting a younger generation of customers.
“Customers have gone, some died or they’re too old to make it here,” Mizrahi said, standing outside the narrow porch of Café Mizrahi which overhangs one of the shuk’s lanes. “We get more young people now, and—I hate this word—‘yuppie’ people.”
Indeed, the shuk now rivals the ultra-popular Jerusalem mall for convenience and surpasses it for connoisseurs seeking specialty items. “There’s no need to go to the mall. You can find everything here,” said Yitzhak Cohen, a shuk veteran selling Syrian olive oil and halva (a sesame sweet) for more than 20 years.
In fact, shuk regulars have marveled at the tour groups of Israelis that have traipsed through the market lately, with guides even. Regulars, unruffled by all the attention and modernization, are almost as much tourists as the real sightseers. “If I don’t come here to shop, I come to tour,” said Mordechai Maloun, an Orthodox Jew and regular customer.
Shopper Ze’ev Mizrachi said the new shops and tourist pilgrimages add color to the market: “It’s about the experience,” he said. “We have friends here, we talk to people. It’s a meeting place.”
Meanwhile, one of the so-called yuppies, Asher Kravitz, was studying mathematics while enjoying coffee and apple strudel at JD Cafe, which serves beer on tap, another shuk novelty. “It’s a big innovation,” he said. “We live nearby so we come here all the time,” he said. “It’s a new voice, it’s a new spirit and it sounds good.”
It is one of Jerusalem’s last bastions of gritty Israeli culture, the real bustle and chaos of Middle Eastern life. But now even the shuk has been swept up in the city’s continuing development and modernization.
Once the calling card for loud heckling, surly shopkeepers, harried shoppers—and bargains—the outdoor market has been invaded by swank cafes and gourmet food shops. It’s a twist as surprising as the imported specialties that now appear at every turn. Some even deign to describe the shuk, called Mahane Yehuda, as “yuppie.”
“It’s more like a yuppie destination now,” Ada Spitz, a Jerusalem native, told Israel Today. “They started selling sushi in the shuk. Who would’ve thought they’d sell sushi in the shuk?”
Spitz herself works in one of the new designer clothing shops surfacing in the market with designer—not shuk—prices.
New and old are now side by side: designer clothing, imported cheese, eclectic wine collections, cozy cafes and haute cuisine restaurants are interspersed between the traditional colorful arrays of fruits and vegetables, raw meat and fish, stacks of pitas and other breads, pastries, dried fruits and nuts, olives of all colors, and of course shwarma (meat roasted on a spit) and falafel shops, among many other things.
Woven together by alleys and nooks, the three lengthwise shuk streets off of Jerusalem’s main Jaffa Road are about a half a mile west of downtown. The new delicacy and designer shops combined with the city’s aesthetic renovations contributed to an upsurge in customers this past year, merchants say. They also credit a decline in terrorist attacks since the last one there on April 12th, 2002. The shuk was one of Jerusalem’s recurring targets for terrorism in the early years of the intifada (Palestinian uprising).
These “yuppie” changes seem to be welcomed by all so far, if not with a sniff of sarcasm from some old-timers. “We call that part ‘North Tel Aviv,’” said Yossi Ankona, a lifelong shop owner, making a dig at the new shops’ trendy ambiance not typically associated with the gruff shuk.
But Eli Mizrahi, considered by many the pioneer of this renaissance, resists that label. “Is it like France? Italy? Is it like Barcelona? No, it’s Mahane Yehuda!” he said, insisting that there was nothing out of place with a classy café in the midst of a grimy market.
Mizrahi, who grew up in the family’s shop at the shuk, took a risk four years ago when he opened up his gourmet coffee shop. “Fifty percent of the people thought I was a genius, 50 percent thought I was a lunatic,” he said. “But I knew this is something that was missing in the market. It changed the market totally.”
Considering the renewed busyness of the shuk and copious media coverage, Mizrahi proved genius. He has been followed by other “hip” shops including his own high end restaurant, Zahko, on the perimeter of the shuk. Mizrahi believes the time was right for attracting a younger generation of customers.
“Customers have gone, some died or they’re too old to make it here,” Mizrahi said, standing outside the narrow porch of Café Mizrahi which overhangs one of the shuk’s lanes. “We get more young people now, and—I hate this word—‘yuppie’ people.”
Indeed, the shuk now rivals the ultra-popular Jerusalem mall for convenience and surpasses it for connoisseurs seeking specialty items. “There’s no need to go to the mall. You can find everything here,” said Yitzhak Cohen, a shuk veteran selling Syrian olive oil and halva (a sesame sweet) for more than 20 years.
In fact, shuk regulars have marveled at the tour groups of Israelis that have traipsed through the market lately, with guides even. Regulars, unruffled by all the attention and modernization, are almost as much tourists as the real sightseers. “If I don’t come here to shop, I come to tour,” said Mordechai Maloun, an Orthodox Jew and regular customer.
Shopper Ze’ev Mizrachi said the new shops and tourist pilgrimages add color to the market: “It’s about the experience,” he said. “We have friends here, we talk to people. It’s a meeting place.”
Meanwhile, one of the so-called yuppies, Asher Kravitz, was studying mathematics while enjoying coffee and apple strudel at JD Cafe, which serves beer on tap, another shuk novelty. “It’s a big innovation,” he said. “We live nearby so we come here all the time,” he said. “It’s a new voice, it’s a new spirit and it sounds good.”
Nov 1, 2006
Egyptian Campaigns on Israel’s Behalf
When Majed El Shafie told Israeli soldiers he was Egyptian, some recoiled, some welcomed him warmly and some simply stared in shock. At a time when Islamic militants from Hizbollah were attacking Israel, here was a former Moslem, now living in Canada, greeting Israeli troops and expressing his support for them—and planning to tell their story back home.
“We are making a movie about the war, what’s behind the war,” El Shafie said. “I want to show the human side of Israel—hospitals, shelters, mothers of soldiers. And not just Jews, but Arabs, Christian Arabs, Russian immigrants.”
El Shafie came to Israel as a human rights observer during the war this summer to visit Israeli troops and tour the destruction caused by Hizbollah rockets. He said that the only thing he saw from the media in Canada was the destruction of Lebanon.
“Israel lost the media war,” he said. “From the beginning of the war, everyone was against Israel. I believe the Lebanese also suffered, but nobody spoke up for Israel.”
El Shafie took video footage of Israelis in shelters and hospitals and even brought back shrapnel from a rocket that was launched at Israel to present as evidence to parliament.
“How could you hit civilian areas?” he asked of Hizbollah. “At least Israel dropped leaflets [announcing where they were going to bomb] which took from Israel the element of surprise.”
El Shafie was raised as a Muslim in Egypt and was taught to hate Israel. After he converted to Christianity, which is illegal in Egypt, he was arrested and tortured for weeks. Then he made a daring escape to Israel, the only non-Muslim neighboring country. He was imprisoned for more than a year until he received political asylum and for the next two years he lived in Israel under the name Mack Smith and began to cultivate a love for the Land.
Now in Canada, he runs a human-rights organization, One Free World International, that helps people who are persecuted for their beliefs. This was El Shafie’s first trip back to Israel since moving to North America two years ago. As part of his work, he broadcasts the Gospel through three Arabic-language radio shows including one to Iraq.
While studying law in Egypt, El Shafie, who had Christian friends, saw discrepancies in Egyptian law, which regards Christians as lower class. This prompted him to search out Christianity for himself. He made a radical conversion and started an underground Christian organization that eventually grew to thousands. Then he was arrested.
“I had my hair shaved and was hung upside down with my head submerged in boiling hot and then ice cold water,” he said. “I was threatened with killer dogs. I was tied to a cross for three days, had my back slashed with a knife and then had lemon juice and salt rubbed in the wound until I finally fell unconscious from the pain.”
Though he was released from prison, El Shafie was summoned back to court. Awaiting his court date, El Shafie decided to try to escape to Israel, rather than face a certain death sentence. At the Red Sea, he rented a jet ski and with Egyptian and Israeli patrols pursuing him from both sides, he made for shore. He evaded the patrols, ditched his jet ski on an Eilat beach and ran to a nearby hotel. He was caught and jailed for 16 months, but was safely in Israel.
“We are making a movie about the war, what’s behind the war,” El Shafie said. “I want to show the human side of Israel—hospitals, shelters, mothers of soldiers. And not just Jews, but Arabs, Christian Arabs, Russian immigrants.”
El Shafie came to Israel as a human rights observer during the war this summer to visit Israeli troops and tour the destruction caused by Hizbollah rockets. He said that the only thing he saw from the media in Canada was the destruction of Lebanon.
“Israel lost the media war,” he said. “From the beginning of the war, everyone was against Israel. I believe the Lebanese also suffered, but nobody spoke up for Israel.”
El Shafie took video footage of Israelis in shelters and hospitals and even brought back shrapnel from a rocket that was launched at Israel to present as evidence to parliament.
“How could you hit civilian areas?” he asked of Hizbollah. “At least Israel dropped leaflets [announcing where they were going to bomb] which took from Israel the element of surprise.”
El Shafie was raised as a Muslim in Egypt and was taught to hate Israel. After he converted to Christianity, which is illegal in Egypt, he was arrested and tortured for weeks. Then he made a daring escape to Israel, the only non-Muslim neighboring country. He was imprisoned for more than a year until he received political asylum and for the next two years he lived in Israel under the name Mack Smith and began to cultivate a love for the Land.
Now in Canada, he runs a human-rights organization, One Free World International, that helps people who are persecuted for their beliefs. This was El Shafie’s first trip back to Israel since moving to North America two years ago. As part of his work, he broadcasts the Gospel through three Arabic-language radio shows including one to Iraq.
While studying law in Egypt, El Shafie, who had Christian friends, saw discrepancies in Egyptian law, which regards Christians as lower class. This prompted him to search out Christianity for himself. He made a radical conversion and started an underground Christian organization that eventually grew to thousands. Then he was arrested.
“I had my hair shaved and was hung upside down with my head submerged in boiling hot and then ice cold water,” he said. “I was threatened with killer dogs. I was tied to a cross for three days, had my back slashed with a knife and then had lemon juice and salt rubbed in the wound until I finally fell unconscious from the pain.”
Though he was released from prison, El Shafie was summoned back to court. Awaiting his court date, El Shafie decided to try to escape to Israel, rather than face a certain death sentence. At the Red Sea, he rented a jet ski and with Egyptian and Israeli patrols pursuing him from both sides, he made for shore. He evaded the patrols, ditched his jet ski on an Eilat beach and ran to a nearby hotel. He was caught and jailed for 16 months, but was safely in Israel.
Sep 1, 2006
Economy Takes a Pounding during War
The statistics are grim and continue to mount: 10,000 businesses are on the brink of collapse, unemployment in the north is nearly 14 percent, workers haven’t been paid in weeks, and farmers are looking at devastated crops and distraught livestock.
From hotels and tourist attractions to farms and vineyards, businesses that slowed down or shut down completely because of the war are expected to have a ripple effect on the economy.
The Defense Ministry estimates that the conflict has cost the government 7 billion shekels ($1.5 billion). The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor has set up a task force to deal with the damages and repercussions of the war.
Restaurants and Shops
The most visible impact is on the closed restaurants and shops throughout the northern cities and towns. At some hotels and restaurants, the only patrons are foreign reporters who moved north when residents fled south or underground. From small convenience stores to pubs and restaurants, business hours were reduced and along with it, the clientele.
“I have 46 employees,” Moshe Taylor, a restaurant owner in Haifa, told Israel Today. “I have to pay them. How do you pay them?”
Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav said the city’s “losses are desperate.” “We have the largest number of malls in Israel and they are empty,” he told us. “I have a friend who owns a shoe factory. But who feels like buying shoes right now? Sometimes owners opened up their stores because they wanted to be tough, but the clients didn’t show up.”
Municipalities are also grasping with new challenges. Haifa’s Deputy Mayor Tsvika Dahari said the city’s regular functions must carry on under fire like garbage collection and social services. But now they are saddled with new tasks as well.
“After a rocket falls, we must immediately repair the street,” he said. “We bring inspectors from the government to assess the damage. We also bring residents whose homes were hit to hotels so no one is ever sleeping on the street.”
Farms
Farmers say their livestock have been terrified by the continual blasts and gunfire from the border. Hens are laying eggs with an extremely brittle shell and cows are giving less milk. Many foreign workers fled south leaving fruit rotting on the trees.
Fires sparked by rockets have burned thousands of acres of grazing land for the region’s 30,000 cattle. “The damage is severe,” said Haim Dayan, director general of the cattle-raisers union. He said cows miscarried at a significantly higher rate this season because farmers could not reach the herd regularly to provide the necessary care.
Wine
Also hit hard by the war was Israel’s $150 million wine industry—a booming business with hundreds of wineries ranging from small enterprises to large ones which produce 10 million bottles a year.
Moshe Haviv, CEO of Dalton Winery, is one example. He estimates a loss of 1 million shekels (more than $220,000) in one month and possibly the entire harvest. Haviv said a bumper crop was expected this year, but with the grapes ripening, workers were unable to tend the vines because of falling rockets, let alone bring in the harvest. A rocket landed in one of Dalton’s fields, burning two acres of vines.
“Half my workers left with their families in fear of the Katyushas,” Haviv said, “and some of the others have been called up to reserve duty.”
Lebanese Israelis Reflect on the War
ISIFIYE, northern Israel – As she watched the desperate escape from Lebanon of thousands of tourists and foreigners, Rabiye Abu Sahad remembered her own flight from the country six years ago: Keys still in the ignition, her family abandoned their car and fled on foot over the Israeli border.
“I know what its like to run from that country,” she said of her motherland.
Rabiye’s husband was in the South Lebanese Army (SLA), an Israeli-backed militia that helped provide security and fight Hizbollah during the Israeli presence in Lebanon from 1982-2000. Israel’s unilateral pullout from Lebanon in 2000 was sudden.
They didn’t have much warning, so they grabbed a bag of valuables and sped to the border where they joined a traffic jam of other SLA fighters and their families also trying to escape Hizbollah revenge. But word soon trickled down the line of cars: Hizbollah terrorists were on their way to the border. That prompted many terrified Lebanese to flee on foot. Approximately 6,000 sought refuge in Israel.
Unlike many Israeli Arabs who have expressed sympathy for Hizbollah, several Lebanese who spoke with Israel Today expressed their appreciation of Israel and even supported its assault on Hizbollah. They spoke fondly of both nations, peace and the hope to one day see their families who are just a few miles away, but just out of reach; returning to Lebanon would mean certain imprisonment and possibly death.
Abu Sahad, a Druze, is now an Israeli citizen along wither her husband and three children. She hoped Israel would finish the job and wipe out Hizbollah. “I don’t like them,” she said. “They’re the reason I had to leave.”
Still it was hard to sit on the more peaceful Israeli side while the rest of her family sat under the threat of Israeli warplanes. She watched the news all day for the first 15 days of the conflict especially after her parents’ phone lines went down. Finally she decided to put on music instead and try to get her mind off the constant worry.
“I have to hold myself together mentally for the sake of my own family,” she said. “I have no relatives here, no one to turn to.”
Ferriel Amacha, 35, cried openly as she talked about her loneliness in a safe but foreign land. She too barely escaped Lebanon with her husband. But she now frets over her family, all still in Lebanon.
Meeting family, even in a neutral country, is impossible for Lebanese in Israel. They worry about the consequences for their family in Lebanon if they are found to have had any contact with “Israelis.” The fear of Hizbollah—from spies to Katyusha rockets in the north—still dominates life for many former Lebanese.
“They’ve ruined the whole country [Lebanon],” Amacha said. “I want them out no matter how. Get rid of them and then Lebanon can be a country again.”
Rabiye hopes Israel will regain control of the south and that she would one day be able to see her family again. “I don’t see that there’s any solution to it—only God.”
“I know what its like to run from that country,” she said of her motherland.
Rabiye’s husband was in the South Lebanese Army (SLA), an Israeli-backed militia that helped provide security and fight Hizbollah during the Israeli presence in Lebanon from 1982-2000. Israel’s unilateral pullout from Lebanon in 2000 was sudden.
They didn’t have much warning, so they grabbed a bag of valuables and sped to the border where they joined a traffic jam of other SLA fighters and their families also trying to escape Hizbollah revenge. But word soon trickled down the line of cars: Hizbollah terrorists were on their way to the border. That prompted many terrified Lebanese to flee on foot. Approximately 6,000 sought refuge in Israel.
Unlike many Israeli Arabs who have expressed sympathy for Hizbollah, several Lebanese who spoke with Israel Today expressed their appreciation of Israel and even supported its assault on Hizbollah. They spoke fondly of both nations, peace and the hope to one day see their families who are just a few miles away, but just out of reach; returning to Lebanon would mean certain imprisonment and possibly death.
Abu Sahad, a Druze, is now an Israeli citizen along wither her husband and three children. She hoped Israel would finish the job and wipe out Hizbollah. “I don’t like them,” she said. “They’re the reason I had to leave.”
Still it was hard to sit on the more peaceful Israeli side while the rest of her family sat under the threat of Israeli warplanes. She watched the news all day for the first 15 days of the conflict especially after her parents’ phone lines went down. Finally she decided to put on music instead and try to get her mind off the constant worry.
“I have to hold myself together mentally for the sake of my own family,” she said. “I have no relatives here, no one to turn to.”
Ferriel Amacha, 35, cried openly as she talked about her loneliness in a safe but foreign land. She too barely escaped Lebanon with her husband. But she now frets over her family, all still in Lebanon.
Meeting family, even in a neutral country, is impossible for Lebanese in Israel. They worry about the consequences for their family in Lebanon if they are found to have had any contact with “Israelis.” The fear of Hizbollah—from spies to Katyusha rockets in the north—still dominates life for many former Lebanese.
“They’ve ruined the whole country [Lebanon],” Amacha said. “I want them out no matter how. Get rid of them and then Lebanon can be a country again.”
Rabiye hopes Israel will regain control of the south and that she would one day be able to see her family again. “I don’t see that there’s any solution to it—only God.”
The North Under Siege
NAHARIYA – The sun shone from a cloudless sky as crystal blue water lapped against the shore—a perfect day on the beach. Except that not one person was to be found on this stretch of Israeli coast less than 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the Lebanese border.
“It has never happened before,” said lifelong Nahariya resident David Ron. “In the past, if rockets fell here, maybe a few tourists wouldn’t come out for one day, maybe 10 days. But residents would be out. Never have we had a situation in Israel where residents lived in shelters for weeks on end.”
Unlike towns further south, Nahariya did not have sirens to warn of incoming rockets until nearly a month into the attacks. Ron drove around the city with one window open to keep the glass from shattering in case of a blast.
With more than 900 houses in the coastal town damaged by Hizbollah’s Katyusha rockets, residents—who are no strangers to terrorism—disappeared along with the tourists. It was impossible to tell whether people were in their homes or shelters or had skipped town altogether. Almost every shop was locked shut.
In the first month of fighting, 3,600 rockets forced the 1.5 million residents of northern Israel to live in shelters or head south for refuge. Israeli officials estimated the number of displaced Israelis at 300,000, some driving for days until they found a place to stay. With at least 150 rockets raining down on Israel on an average day, Hizbollah changed the frontline of the Arab-Israeli conflict, hitting areas as far south as Afula, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border.
An Eerie Routine
Israeli army Major Elliot Chodoff, responsible for the home-front in the north, said the situation is full of psychological challenges because rockets can hit any time, anywhere. “There are no easy answers,” Chodoff told Israel Today, adding that the aim is to find a workable routine in a crisis situation. “What we’re trying to do is help people cope at the highest possible level.”
To enable residents to shop for food and other necessities, stores adopted a wartime schedule, opening each day for specified hours. Residents described an eerie pattern of life under siege: Rocket attacks begin in the late morning and then subside, allowing people to scamper out from their shelters, shop, walk and have a drink in the humid sea air. Then residents head back into the shelters, ready for the next round of attacks that inevitably occur in the late afternoon.
At one convenience store, which stayed open throughout the conflict providing refuge for war-hardened Israelis, older men and their sons yawned at the predictability of the Hizbollah war schedule while maintaining their favorite pastime—drinking coffee, smoking and now, talking about the war.
“I’ve never gone into a shelter in my life. This is not the first war I’ve been through,” said Haim Dentess, 68, explaining why he sat outside on a deceptively peaceful day. “People here are strong. We know why we’re at war—we want peace. They want to kill us and we know the reason: We are strong.”
Though Dentess and his cadre of tough men defied the government recommendation to stay in shelters at all times, they were also disheartened by the situation. It was summertime, the height of the tourist season that props up the city’s economy, and yet stores were barred shut and the promenade deserted.
The Silver Lining in Adversity
The rockets that hit homes wrought devastating damage. A side hit to the exterior of one house shifted everything inside. Drawers spilled out of the cabinets, plates and glasses smashed onto the floor and meat rotted in the open freezer. An uneaten baguette remained on the table. The residents left in a hurry and did not return.
Another pockmarked apartment building was guarded since all of its windows and doors shattered in a rocket hit. Residents have long been in shelters, but insurance requires that the building be secured 24 hours a day to prevent looting.
Despite the damage, danger and disruption, the war in this city testifies of two miracles: most rockets landed in streets, yards and fields, and with most residents in shelters, the death toll was relatively low considering the number of attacks.
The View from Arab Towns
The mood in Israeli Arab towns in the north was much different and, in fact, belied war at all. Not one store was closed and life didn’t skip a beat despite daily sirens warning residents of incoming rockets.
“When a rocket falls on an Arab village, it’s the opposite [of Jewish towns]. Everyone goes to the rocket, not from it,” said Alhan Awad, a resident of Kfar Yasif. “People sit on the roof of their house and watch.”
While many Arabs maintain anti-Israel views, Lebanese Israelis, who fled Lebanon in 2000 when Israel pulled out, are pulling for the Jewish state to eradicate Hizbollah (see page 6).
“They are terrorists, killers,” said Johnny Aboud, who now owns a shwarma (meat sliced off a spit) shop in Kfar Yasif. “Nobody wants Israel to lose.”
Aboud lived in a Christian section of Beirut. He still has family there, but hadn’t been able to contact them since Israel began bombing the city. Aboud said Lebanon will be much better off without Hizbollah.
“All of the government is afraid of Hizbollah,” he said. “Who has the weapons now? Only the Hizbollah.”
Harried in Haifa
At Haifa University, overseas students cleared out of town after the first rocket landed. Final exams were postponed and only a few Israeli students were left in the dorms.
“One student, a South American girl, left immediately after the first Katyusha fell,” said Moti, a student at the school. “I said to her, ‘You’re obviously not from here. We are used to this—this is our reality.’”
During the height of the rocket attacks in Israel’s third-largest city, restaurants and coffee shops were closed, or if open, were nearly empty.
“All during the month of the World Cup, it was busy. We even took reservations,” said Moshe Taylor, a restaurant owner who was determined to maintain a semblance of normalcy. “We were full, extra full, even two to three hours before the game.” “Now,” he gestured at the trendy but empty sushi bar, “we have a lot of place.”
Taylor said that his bar-restaurant depends on the three summer months to make money for the whole year. But in one month, business dropped 50 percent, his Asian workers left the country or headed south and his barmen and waitresses went to Tel Aviv.
“If I had kids I’d take them away from here,” he said. “But for me the show must go on.”
“It has never happened before,” said lifelong Nahariya resident David Ron. “In the past, if rockets fell here, maybe a few tourists wouldn’t come out for one day, maybe 10 days. But residents would be out. Never have we had a situation in Israel where residents lived in shelters for weeks on end.”
Unlike towns further south, Nahariya did not have sirens to warn of incoming rockets until nearly a month into the attacks. Ron drove around the city with one window open to keep the glass from shattering in case of a blast.
With more than 900 houses in the coastal town damaged by Hizbollah’s Katyusha rockets, residents—who are no strangers to terrorism—disappeared along with the tourists. It was impossible to tell whether people were in their homes or shelters or had skipped town altogether. Almost every shop was locked shut.
In the first month of fighting, 3,600 rockets forced the 1.5 million residents of northern Israel to live in shelters or head south for refuge. Israeli officials estimated the number of displaced Israelis at 300,000, some driving for days until they found a place to stay. With at least 150 rockets raining down on Israel on an average day, Hizbollah changed the frontline of the Arab-Israeli conflict, hitting areas as far south as Afula, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border.
An Eerie Routine
Israeli army Major Elliot Chodoff, responsible for the home-front in the north, said the situation is full of psychological challenges because rockets can hit any time, anywhere. “There are no easy answers,” Chodoff told Israel Today, adding that the aim is to find a workable routine in a crisis situation. “What we’re trying to do is help people cope at the highest possible level.”
To enable residents to shop for food and other necessities, stores adopted a wartime schedule, opening each day for specified hours. Residents described an eerie pattern of life under siege: Rocket attacks begin in the late morning and then subside, allowing people to scamper out from their shelters, shop, walk and have a drink in the humid sea air. Then residents head back into the shelters, ready for the next round of attacks that inevitably occur in the late afternoon.
At one convenience store, which stayed open throughout the conflict providing refuge for war-hardened Israelis, older men and their sons yawned at the predictability of the Hizbollah war schedule while maintaining their favorite pastime—drinking coffee, smoking and now, talking about the war.
“I’ve never gone into a shelter in my life. This is not the first war I’ve been through,” said Haim Dentess, 68, explaining why he sat outside on a deceptively peaceful day. “People here are strong. We know why we’re at war—we want peace. They want to kill us and we know the reason: We are strong.”
Though Dentess and his cadre of tough men defied the government recommendation to stay in shelters at all times, they were also disheartened by the situation. It was summertime, the height of the tourist season that props up the city’s economy, and yet stores were barred shut and the promenade deserted.
The Silver Lining in Adversity
The rockets that hit homes wrought devastating damage. A side hit to the exterior of one house shifted everything inside. Drawers spilled out of the cabinets, plates and glasses smashed onto the floor and meat rotted in the open freezer. An uneaten baguette remained on the table. The residents left in a hurry and did not return.
Another pockmarked apartment building was guarded since all of its windows and doors shattered in a rocket hit. Residents have long been in shelters, but insurance requires that the building be secured 24 hours a day to prevent looting.
Despite the damage, danger and disruption, the war in this city testifies of two miracles: most rockets landed in streets, yards and fields, and with most residents in shelters, the death toll was relatively low considering the number of attacks.
The View from Arab Towns
The mood in Israeli Arab towns in the north was much different and, in fact, belied war at all. Not one store was closed and life didn’t skip a beat despite daily sirens warning residents of incoming rockets.
“When a rocket falls on an Arab village, it’s the opposite [of Jewish towns]. Everyone goes to the rocket, not from it,” said Alhan Awad, a resident of Kfar Yasif. “People sit on the roof of their house and watch.”
While many Arabs maintain anti-Israel views, Lebanese Israelis, who fled Lebanon in 2000 when Israel pulled out, are pulling for the Jewish state to eradicate Hizbollah (see page 6).
“They are terrorists, killers,” said Johnny Aboud, who now owns a shwarma (meat sliced off a spit) shop in Kfar Yasif. “Nobody wants Israel to lose.”
Aboud lived in a Christian section of Beirut. He still has family there, but hadn’t been able to contact them since Israel began bombing the city. Aboud said Lebanon will be much better off without Hizbollah.
“All of the government is afraid of Hizbollah,” he said. “Who has the weapons now? Only the Hizbollah.”
Harried in Haifa
At Haifa University, overseas students cleared out of town after the first rocket landed. Final exams were postponed and only a few Israeli students were left in the dorms.
“One student, a South American girl, left immediately after the first Katyusha fell,” said Moti, a student at the school. “I said to her, ‘You’re obviously not from here. We are used to this—this is our reality.’”
During the height of the rocket attacks in Israel’s third-largest city, restaurants and coffee shops were closed, or if open, were nearly empty.
“All during the month of the World Cup, it was busy. We even took reservations,” said Moshe Taylor, a restaurant owner who was determined to maintain a semblance of normalcy. “We were full, extra full, even two to three hours before the game.” “Now,” he gestured at the trendy but empty sushi bar, “we have a lot of place.”
Taylor said that his bar-restaurant depends on the three summer months to make money for the whole year. But in one month, business dropped 50 percent, his Asian workers left the country or headed south and his barmen and waitresses went to Tel Aviv.
“If I had kids I’d take them away from here,” he said. “But for me the show must go on.”
Aug 1, 2006
Interview with Netanyahu: Pullout Would Lead to ‘Hamastan’
Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister and finance minister, is now the opposition leader in the Israeli parliament. He took some time to share his views with reporter Nicole Jansezian.
Reporter: Israel recently remembered the 30th anniversary of the rescue mission of Entebbe in which your brother Jonathan [‘Yoni’] was killed. What lessons can we apply from that operation to the situation Israel is facing today?
Netanyahu: Entebbe was a great blow to international terrorism. It showed that free societies, however threatened by barbaric evil, can overcome this evil if they muster their courage and their resolve. I think the fact that this raid was carried out against what were seemingly impossible odds, and succeeded, set the standard for the rest of the free world to stand up and fight terrorism.
Reporter: You were against the pullout from Gaza. Did you ever imagine that Israeli troops would be back there so soon?
Netanyahu: Yes, I said as much. I wasn’t against leaving Gaza in an agreement, but I thought that unilaterally withdrawing would strengthen Hamas, which it did. It would bring the rockets closer to the towns and villages in the southern part of the country. I think we now have to undo this error. We have to restore a balance of deterrence. Hamas believes it can fire 600 rockets into our towns and villages and we will accept it.
Reporter: What can the army do to prevent these rocket attacks?
Netanyahu: You have to make it clear that you cannot fire rockets with impunity at Israel. We will go after the people who do it. We also, in this case, take possession of the rocket sites.
The government had said it would respond massively with the first rocket that was fired. They didn’t respond unfortunately with the first, the tenth or the 100th rocket. And then it escalated to 600 rockets. I think the first rule of deterrence is to nip bad things in the bud. Don’t let it grow because otherwise the response you would have to give becomes a lot more intense than if you had acted early enough. The second good idea is to do what you say you’ll do so it creates credibility.
Reporter: You’ve been a quiet opposition leader so far. Why haven’t you been more vocal about the planned pullout from Judea and Samaria?
Netanyahu: We’ve been very clear about it. And a lot of people now realize that this pullout is really in doubt, when you see what the previous pullout did. Many people are saying, ‘Do we really want to replicate this and create a “Hamastan,” in this case right next to the greater Tel Aviv area?’ The range of the rockets will increase with an independent Hamas state. They’ll import weapons from Iran and elsewhere.
Plus they’re also asking, what is the logic here? Do we get any benefit? We don’t get international recognition. People will recognize or enable Israel to unilaterally make these unbelievable concessions to Hamas, but they don’t say that what you keep they recognize. Not a single government has said that.
And, how are you going to pay for it? The cost is roughly $2 billion for [every] 10,000 people [evacuated]. Olmert’s plan involves at least 70,000 people, possibly 100,000, so we’re talking about $20 billion. There is no budget for these massive displacements.
Reporter: How would you handle the situation in Gaza right now if you were the prime minister?
Netanyahu: In the middle of a crisis, the good thing for us to do is to back the government to do the right thing. They said they would not make deals with the terrorists [for the release of the kidnapped soldier] and I support that. They seem to be taking a more forceful response to the rockets and I support that.
Reporter: Many Christians worldwide are on Israel’s side. How can they support Israel in this situation?
Netanyahu: Israel is under a dual attack: It is under terrorist attacks, rockets, suicide bombers, kidnappings and so on. But it is also under moral attack. We who are the victim of this aggression are being called the aggressors. Christian friends of Israel know the truth and perhaps the most important battle we’ve been fighting is the battle for truth against the lies and vilification that are hurled constantly in Israel’s direction.
We have no better friends than the Christian community and the Christian Zionists around the world who understand that the story of Israel is really a parable. It’s a parable of a people who faced all odds and have really broken the so-called iron laws of history. We’ve been re-gathered in our ancestral homeland and built a model democracy by seeking to build a better future for us and our neighbors and are now, and for some time have been, tormented by the most barbaric and murderous forces on the face of the globe.
This is how Christian friends of Israel can help: by merely explaining this truth. We are fighting evil forces. People who chop heads off, blow up babies, smash into skyscrapers in Manhattan and kill thousands of innocent people are evil people and they should be stopped.
Reporter: Israel recently remembered the 30th anniversary of the rescue mission of Entebbe in which your brother Jonathan [‘Yoni’] was killed. What lessons can we apply from that operation to the situation Israel is facing today?
Netanyahu: Entebbe was a great blow to international terrorism. It showed that free societies, however threatened by barbaric evil, can overcome this evil if they muster their courage and their resolve. I think the fact that this raid was carried out against what were seemingly impossible odds, and succeeded, set the standard for the rest of the free world to stand up and fight terrorism.
Reporter: You were against the pullout from Gaza. Did you ever imagine that Israeli troops would be back there so soon?
Netanyahu: Yes, I said as much. I wasn’t against leaving Gaza in an agreement, but I thought that unilaterally withdrawing would strengthen Hamas, which it did. It would bring the rockets closer to the towns and villages in the southern part of the country. I think we now have to undo this error. We have to restore a balance of deterrence. Hamas believes it can fire 600 rockets into our towns and villages and we will accept it.
Reporter: What can the army do to prevent these rocket attacks?
Netanyahu: You have to make it clear that you cannot fire rockets with impunity at Israel. We will go after the people who do it. We also, in this case, take possession of the rocket sites.
The government had said it would respond massively with the first rocket that was fired. They didn’t respond unfortunately with the first, the tenth or the 100th rocket. And then it escalated to 600 rockets. I think the first rule of deterrence is to nip bad things in the bud. Don’t let it grow because otherwise the response you would have to give becomes a lot more intense than if you had acted early enough. The second good idea is to do what you say you’ll do so it creates credibility.
Reporter: You’ve been a quiet opposition leader so far. Why haven’t you been more vocal about the planned pullout from Judea and Samaria?
Netanyahu: We’ve been very clear about it. And a lot of people now realize that this pullout is really in doubt, when you see what the previous pullout did. Many people are saying, ‘Do we really want to replicate this and create a “Hamastan,” in this case right next to the greater Tel Aviv area?’ The range of the rockets will increase with an independent Hamas state. They’ll import weapons from Iran and elsewhere.
Plus they’re also asking, what is the logic here? Do we get any benefit? We don’t get international recognition. People will recognize or enable Israel to unilaterally make these unbelievable concessions to Hamas, but they don’t say that what you keep they recognize. Not a single government has said that.
And, how are you going to pay for it? The cost is roughly $2 billion for [every] 10,000 people [evacuated]. Olmert’s plan involves at least 70,000 people, possibly 100,000, so we’re talking about $20 billion. There is no budget for these massive displacements.
Reporter: How would you handle the situation in Gaza right now if you were the prime minister?
Netanyahu: In the middle of a crisis, the good thing for us to do is to back the government to do the right thing. They said they would not make deals with the terrorists [for the release of the kidnapped soldier] and I support that. They seem to be taking a more forceful response to the rockets and I support that.
Reporter: Many Christians worldwide are on Israel’s side. How can they support Israel in this situation?
Netanyahu: Israel is under a dual attack: It is under terrorist attacks, rockets, suicide bombers, kidnappings and so on. But it is also under moral attack. We who are the victim of this aggression are being called the aggressors. Christian friends of Israel know the truth and perhaps the most important battle we’ve been fighting is the battle for truth against the lies and vilification that are hurled constantly in Israel’s direction.
We have no better friends than the Christian community and the Christian Zionists around the world who understand that the story of Israel is really a parable. It’s a parable of a people who faced all odds and have really broken the so-called iron laws of history. We’ve been re-gathered in our ancestral homeland and built a model democracy by seeking to build a better future for us and our neighbors and are now, and for some time have been, tormented by the most barbaric and murderous forces on the face of the globe.
This is how Christian friends of Israel can help: by merely explaining this truth. We are fighting evil forces. People who chop heads off, blow up babies, smash into skyscrapers in Manhattan and kill thousands of innocent people are evil people and they should be stopped.
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