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“Life Without Peace”
Reflections on the Crisis in Israel
J.A. a senior staff person from JDC, and an Israeli citizen, returned from Israel just before Shabbat on July 7, and has shared with us some of her insights and feelings about the situation:
"We tend to forget how fragile the reality of Israel is. Overnight the tranquil landscape of the Galilee has been turned into a battlefield. No longer are Kiryat Shmonah and the Upper Galilee alone in being attacked; now Tiberias, Haifa, Upper Nazareth and Afula are also targets for the Hezbollah's arsenal of longer-range missiles. Since Wednesday 700 missiles have been fired into Israel, leaving 23 dead and many injured. And on Sunday, the IDF told Israelis from Tel Aviv northward to 'be alert.' This is all in addition to the missiles being fired upon Ofakim, Sderot and Ashkelon by Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza. Israel is fighting on two fronts — in the North and in the South.
I left Israel on Thursday night with a heavy heart knowing that - once again - the Home Front Command would be issuing instructions to ordinary Israelis on what to do in the event of a missile strike.
Once again, Israel radio will activate a 'silent' radio station — one that will remain silent 24-hours and come online in an emergency to broadcast sirens and instructions to the public.
Once again we will hear the air-raid warnings alerting people of imminent attack, and we will hear ambulance sirens wailing as the injured are taken to hospitals.
Once again we will see the pictures and names of the dead appearing on the front pages of Israeli newspapers.
The late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin once said there was only one war in Israel's history. It began in 1948 with the War of Independence and is still going on today. How true and how tragic that Israel's citizens have never known what it means to live in a country where a person's only and major concern is whether we will win the soccer World Cup or Save the Dolphins.
Israel has never known peace. Every child born in Israel since 1948 has experienced war — be it the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War, the Intifadas and so on, all battles for our security, with this latest battle claiming its toll as I write. We are forever glued to the radio, the television, and the mobile phone, wanting to know where our loved ones are. Such is life without peace.
Some have said that our resilience has weakened over the years and that we no longer care about each other, that we are divided and indifferent. This is what our enemies would want us to believe. Even after fifty-eight years, we still rally together, we forego our private lives, and we become one nation willing to put everything on the line. We are ready and determined.
We Israelis are fortified by the knowledge that we are one people, united in our age-old struggle for that elusive peace. And because we are one people, no matter that we are scattered around the globe, everything is personal to us — every Jewish hostage who is seized, every Jewish life that is claimed.
It is the secret of our survival. The bond of caring that connects Jews everywhere has sustained us for generations. This is our true strength, this is what makes us different, and this is what will ensure that we survive as one people."
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As always, JDC is coordinated with the United Jewish Communities (UJC), the Jewish Federations of North America, and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). We are already working in the field in close partnership with the Government of Israel — reaching out to meet the urgent needs which have emerged as a result of this crisis. By building on existing programs, partnerships, and expertise, JDC has launched a comprehensive set of Emergency Programs to deliver help and relief to the most vulnerable populations during any conflict— children, the elderly, and the disabled.
Donations should be made through your local federations or the UJC website.
We pray that this crisis will end quickly and that peace will prevail for the citizens of Israel.
PLEASE JOIN US IN HELPING THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
July 2006
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