One perspective on the new events in the middle east

Below is an email my mom sent me explaining how she sees the current crisis in the middle east (edited slightly) and what life is like for her in that context. I just thought it was very valuable to see a first person account and wanted to share it. War is madness. I'm not interested in taking sides, I'm interested in peace and justice, but I think hearing the different sides in any disagreement is the first step to resolution. I'd love to post any first hand accounts anyone may have from this war, or any side of any war. Please send me one if you have it.

For background, my mom lives in a small town in south central Israel, near the southern point of the dead sea if you are looking at a map, called Arad. In the meantime, it is Northern Israel which is receiving rocket attacks from Hezbollah.

Click here for some of the latest developments.

Not really sure where to send you for a comprehensive analysis, but I'm sure that if you know how to use a search engine, you can find something without any help from me. I really think it's worth learning about (any suggestions?). The more I learn, the more confused I get, but sometimes confusion is a good thing. Often people who have all the simple answers aren't really looking very deep.

Anyways, here's my mom on the matter:

"After I wrote to you, I went to my acupuncture session and to my exercise class. I was bombarded with people asking me if I still have room for people from the north to stay. Apparently, at least half the people I know are hosting families from the north for as long as they can handle. My friend from Afula will probably come with her son. He has Down syndrome , and he is freaking out right now, so she doesn’t want to take him out of his familiar home, but if it continues she will come with him. Apparently, they needed to cancel all his activities but there is a strong support group for him and he is continuosly getting phone calls. He got a phone call today where he was asked to be on the board of the special Olympics or Macabia in Israel.

I glanced at the reports you suggested and was amazed at how one sided the news was. Mainly on Labanon, and hardly a thing about Israels side.

Clearly, we could have given the 3,000 hezbolla a million dollars each and it would have been like dirt cheep solution, but their goal is not to resolve the conflict until Israel is eliminated. If you could have understood the Arabic you would realize that this is not Israeli propaganda but just plain fact. The whole situation started off with rockets from Hezbolla and the kidnapping of soldiers. There was an agreement that the Lebanese army would dismantle them, but instead they have been receiving rockets, including long range from Iran, and support from Syria, who wants the situation to be volatile, because they want the opening for the oil pipes from Syria to the mediteranian to be in their hands.



Lebanon used to be the dream of every Israeli as the first country to be in peace with Israel. There are also Christians and various Moslems sects all living together and we thought that if they can do it, we can do it too.

Unfortunately neither of us are doing a good job.



The UN force that was there in the past just vanished when the attacks against Israel began, so now nobody trusts them.

So what can Israel do?

It could dismantle the rocket launchers, destroy the rockets, and destroy the 3000 army soldiers/terrorists/ etc.

Ask Lebanon to be in control of her territory, by providing them with a destroyed minority army and allow the Lebanese army get control.

All this is the theory. Now - good luck with the outcome.



I wish I could believe we could have avoided the destruction. I feel sorry for all the families in Lebanon that are not involved. The language at wartime is fascinating.

Lebanese that move elsewhere are called refugees, Israelis that are moved are called going on vacation.



We, in Israel have absolutely nowhere to go when we are attacked. Just to each other’s homes, therefore we are afraid to take risks. Like letting the hezbolla get any stronger in Lebanon which will allow Syria to take over. Though my brother thinks it would probably be better for us because then Syria could not pretend she doesn’t control Lebanon through the hezbollah.


In the mean time, Arad is getting crowded and the artist colony are preparing clowns and theater shows in the evenings for the children that are “on vacation”.

The weather is hot so the aairconditioned mall is full. We discovered that some families from the north have absolutely no regard to water shortages, so we are also educating them on the subject of water.