In a single week, we learned the following:
Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, announced that Chezbollah’s rocket arsenal was bigger now than during its 2006 war with Israel. At that time, its arsenal consisted of 10,000 rockets.
At least two Katyusha rockets slammed into the northern Israeli border town of Shlomi, causing damage to several buildings. Israeli security said the rockets likely were fired by Lebanon-based Palestinian terrorists looking to disrupt President Bush’s visit to the region.
Elsewhere, a rocket salvo from South Lebanon jarred Israel. Fortunately there were no casualties. Rockets from the Gaza Strip hit the northern part of the city of Ashkelon, not injuring anyone.
A pretty bleak picture, when you further consider the hopelessness of the future - the Indianapolis conference that has brought no glimmer of hope, Chamas announcing it won’t stop the violence against Israel, and the Palestinian Authority having failed so far to be a partner for peace.
Yet in the most unexpected of places, a hospital bed in Connecticut, I received a completely different, and upbeat, picture of life in Israel.
I had been taken to the hospital by ambulance while on the verge of passing out. Treatment of a bleeding stomach required me to stay there for six days. Among my caretakers was a young Jewish cardiologist, who had recently returned from a wedding in Israel.
“The wedding was in Caesarea,” he said, smiling happily in recollection of the event. “A thousand guests attended. It was in the ancient amphitheater.” Recalling my history, I said the city and amphitheater were built by King Herod (who called himself The Great) nearly two thousand years ago, as a tribute to his Roman rulers.
The doctor and his wife traveled to Israel for a mere four days, which was the most time he could spare from his practice. “If all I could have done was get off the plane and kiss the land of Israel, I would have done it,” he said.
Another day, he and his wife, who are newlyweds, visited Tel Aviv. “It was 3 A.M., but the streets were filled with people,” he said with amazement. “You wouldn’t know they have any problems in Israel.”
They do have problems, of course. You read about them in the newspapers daily, and there is hopelessness to it. The Israelis have no one to talk to who could make decisions that will bring about the existence of two countries side by side, in peace. The PA’s President Abbas recently announced he would never consider Israel a Jewish state. President Bush’s visit to the region seems to have brought no results. Why would anyone in power make commitments to a president at the end of his powers?
Meanwhile, a new generation of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip is being taught by Chamas television that their highest aspiration should be to become suicide bombers and kill Israelis. The Palestinian Authority’s television broadcasts the same message, but less frequently. It is the same PA that recently received pledges of $7.4 billion in aid from ninety countries, including the American taxpayer.
Here’s hoping the Israelis continue milling in the streets of Tel Aviv at 3 A.M. and attending weddings in Caesarea for years to come.
