From Dan Kohn:
Israel's Secret Weapon August 8, 2006
Israel has a secret weapon. The weapon is so secret that even Israelis don't know its true value. Israeli volunteers are the weapon. Israelis identify with their fellow citizens in the North. They are helping each other and there is a terrific outpouring of help that is not another handout from the government. There are thousands of people that are offering their homes to house Israelis from the north. There are thousands of people that have come north to assist and are living in underground shelters and sleeping on mattresses laid out wall to wall. There are youngsters before the army and there are oldsters that still have a lot to contribute. There are secular Jews next to religious Jews from the West Bank. The government is an inefficient bureaucracy (big revelation) that has yet to organize itself to assist people that are forced to live underground for such a long time. Israel usually does something well when dealing with something familiar. Nobody has experienced anything vaguely similar to life in Israel today. It was inconceivable last month that summer vacation would be spent underground while Northern Israel is attacked by 3500 Katusha rockets and the end is not in sight. When will it end? That is the question that everyone is asking several times every day. It goes without saying that the government has no idea how to help people in such circumstances and the Prime Minister's Office has no plans or contingencies. Politicians will come when the situation improves and there are lots of photo opportunities. Israelis citizens are out in force. Volunteers are doing almost everything that is being done for the betterment of the residents living in shelters. Volunteers are bringing supplies, volunteers are living with the people of Northern Israel. It is only the volunteers that know how difficult it is for children and parents to live cramped with fifty people in a shelter for four weeks. For children, this is their summer vacation. Privacy and quiet are today's luxuries. It is next to impossible to stay in crowded shelters regardless of what is done to ease the inconvenience. No amount of entertainers, food, diapers etc. provided by volunteers and municipal services can keep a person living in an underground shelter. Israelis want a normal life. I do not know what will decide the military outcome but the volunteers and only the volunteers will ensure the best outcome for the civilians. I salute them. Dan Kohn, Kibbutz Adamit
Much has happened recently and I will try to describe parts. Two days ago, Ester and I went to the Zevulon Medical Center for something that had been planned a long time ago. I was anxious to be back by 11 o'clock to attend the funeral of three Bedouin women that had been killed by a Katusha rocket in our neighboring village, Aramshe. The funeral was delayed. The bodies had not yet arrived. I went to the Aramshe to wait. There must have been thousands of people. Some came from Adamit, others from Kibbutz Eilon where one of the women had been employed in the Presko food factory. People also showed up from other kibbutzim and settlements to identify with the tribe of Aramshe. Representatives from the regional council were there and I think there was a Knesset member, an Arab woman, that came. There were a few soldiers and members of the Druze community in attendance. Some were sitting in the shade while others were walking around. The main road was filled with vehicles of different sizes and a yellow school bus, all ready to take people to the cemetery, a distance of two kilometers. It was amazing that hundreds of people and scores of vehicles were on the road and wandering around Aramshe within site of the border. It would be assumed that Hizballah knew that we were there in large numbers. Speaking for myself, I was aware that an attack could occur. In the meantime the bodies had not arrived and no one wanted to leave. Several things happened in quick succession. The word came that the bodies were on their way and would arrive soon. Then there was an alert. Everyone had to head to a shelter or a protected area and people started to run. This was serious because the three bodies that everyone was waiting for had been killed when they ignored the previous day's alarm and were killed in their yard. People were running from that very yard right over the pothole created by the rocket. The first ambulance arrived with an announcement that the road to Adamit and Aramshe was being shelled near the Adamit junction. Apparently Nasrallah wanted to kill the women again. There were no injuries this time and most of the men drove off to participate in the burial. It was to be a very quick burial ceremony. I did not go. I had shut off my mobile phone out of respect for the occasion. Now I turned it on. A newspaperman from the London Times had tried to reach me several times. There had been an attack in the Upper Galilee and there were twelve dead. He needed assistance and I left to join him in Kfar Giladi. That is another story.
Dan Kohn, Adamit