Not exactly Plato’s dialogues :)

- Listen, I have a wonderful bomb shelter in my house, only two stories downstairs. I’m sick and tired of running around the lab looking for a safe spot every time the siren wails. Also, my son returned from overseas, and he is sitting home all alone. Let’s go to my place to finish the paper?
- OK, but tell me, how should I behave if the siren starts wailing when I’m on the road?
- It’s easy. You have to stop and get out of the car. Lie down or, the very least, hide behind the nearest wall. Of course, the wall has to be to the northern direction from you.
- Usually I don’t know where north is...
- If you are facing the sea, then the north is on your right. And don’t worry about the direct hit – the chances are as slim as winning lottery. Have you ever won anything in lottery?
- Yes, 16 shekels (less then 4 dollars). This, according to your analogy, is a tiny scratch from the rocket’s explosion.
- Hah, interesting. Let’s go!

...
- Let’s watch the news and work on the paper later. By the way, have you noticed that editor and both co-authors are French? We can’t ask them to postpone the deadline because of the war...
- We can write them that you went to reserve army camp, to the war... They would feel respect and solidarity toward you...
According to the news, there were no sirens in Haifa this morning, only a warning about possibility of a terrorist blast. People were advised not to go to the stores :)))
My supervisor and me, we look at each other... and start laughing. It’s been a while since I had laughed so much. Since the time the war have started... :)

...
My husband looks at the sky and says: “Look, it’s cloudy. Probably, there will be rain”. I answer melancholically:”The most important thing – not hail...”

translation by lesoto

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Brothers and sisters! F**k...

I can not read anything in LiveJournal that is not about the war. And because of that I read all the posts of my fellow Israelis on this topic. One thing hit me big time (not literally :))) - people use all of their energy in defying each other and putting blame on other people. No, I’m not talking about virtual battles that Israelis fight with their opponents who support Arab side of the story. My fellow citizens use all their power and rhetoric for fighting each other. Northerners blame people from the Center and South of the country because they don’t understand northerners’ suffering and how serious the situation is. Southerners blame people from the North that they cry a lot, move into southerners’ houses with all their families and demand too much of attention.
Even southerners are fighting with each other. They always have something to say to each other... :)
Those who left the North blame those who stayed – because they damage and risk their children’s lives. Those who stayed called those who left “cowards” and call them rats who run away from the sinking ship. And so on, and so on...

F*ck, brothers and sisters! We are at war; we have a real enemy that is shelling our land with rockets, and a number of enemy countries who support “Hezbollah”. Bring to an end this disgusting behavior and stop trashing each other! We must support each other, love each other, for God’s sake...
We are citizens of Israel or what?

translation by lesoto

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If somebody has not read this by now - a letter of a former Lebanese citizen to "Shpiegel" magazine

This letter was published together with an article "Can Israel survive in current conditions?" in the last issue of "Shpiegel"(#30/2006).

I used to live in a small village not far away from Marjaun up until 2002. The village is largely populated by Shiites, just like me. Soon after Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah grabbed power in our village, as they did in all surrounding villages. Hezbollah men were regarded here as successful resistance fighters. They built a number of bunkers and used them to store rockets. Social service provided to our village by this "Party of God" was limited to only two events – they built one school and one house, both of them on top of the bunkers with rockets. One of the local mullahs explained to me that Israelis would lose either way. He was laughing when he was explaining it to me. Hezbollah would launch rockets from those spots, and if Israelis would retaliate and destroy the launching spots, it would lead to a number of civilian deaths and harsh disapproval of international community. So I understood immediately that I need to save my family from those "good-doers". Hezbollah men don’t care about civil population of Lebanon. Contrary, they plan to use live civilians as human shields and dead ones for propaganda purposes. I’m afraid to say that, but there would be no peace and no quiet until the moment Hezbollah when is completely destroyed.

Dr. Mounir Herzallah, Berlin

translation from German by ne_goya

translation by lesoto

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Last year's harvest

Only two weeks ago the northern road along the border with Lebanon was our family’s favorite hiking place. Northern Galilee silent forests reminded us of pine forests in Russia. Around one year ago I started a new theme in my journal. It’s called Facing away from Lebanon ...., and it was not a coincidence...



( Huge harvest of peaches and apples ripes in the war-zone gardens... )

translation by lesoto

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