In Nahariya, some choose to leave, while others remain defiant
IDF orders residents to take shelter in bunkers; Resident: We weren't scared before, they won't scare us now.
By Jack Khoury, Nir Hasson and APFacing the propsect of further rocket fire from Hezbollah guerillas in nearby Lebanon, some Nahariya residents began to leave the border town Thursday while others vowed to stay put.
A 40-year-old woman from the town was killed Thursday morning, when a rocket hit her fifth story apartment. Another 29 people were wounded, including some children.
Dozens of families were seen packing their belongings in the city's Green Naharyia neighborhood and making their way south to escape the reach of Hezbollah's rockets.
Local resident Rivka Vekart described the incident in which her neighbor was killed, saying she was thrown off her balcony from the rocket's impact.
"Am ambulance came and started to search for the woman outside her house but didn't find her until she was found a floor beneath," Vekart said.
"We don't know what to do but one thing is for sure: We shall not leave. We weren't scared in the past and they won't scare us now."
Along the border to the northeast, Kiryat Shmona municipality said that approximately 200 families had left the city in the wake of the rocket fire.
The Israel Defense Forces had ordered residents of communities up to 15 kilometers from the Lebanese border to take shelter in local bunkers.
Despite the order, the 40-year-old woman had been sitting on her fifth-floor balcony when the rocket hit the floor above, cutting through the ceiling and killing her, Israel Radio reported.
Nahariya Mayor Jackie Sabag said the whole town, about 10 kilometers south of Israel's border with Lebanon, has shut down. Sabag urged all residents to comply with army orders to stay in underground shelters.
Nahariya Hospital was on high alert, and the deputy director, Moshe Daniel, said all elective surgeries had been halted.
Doctors evacuated the top floor and moved those patients, most of them children, to the secure basement, along with dozens of women in the maternity ward. Patients in floors one through three remained put because the walls are made of reinforced material strong enought to withstand a rocket attack, hospital officials said.
One of the basement rooms was packed with around 30 new mothers. Doctors rushed back and forth and babies cried. Golan Elbachli, 31, stood with his wife looking into a crib at their second child, a girl.
"This doesn't affect her. She's sleeping like a queen," Elbachli said of his newborn. "Her mother, it affects."
Nahariya council set up a helpline that can be reached on 04-987 9801 or 04-9879811
Also Thursday, the Home Front Command ordered hotels and guest houses in the north - a favorite summer vacationing area - to send all visitors home for the coming days. Hundreds of people canceled their weekend reservations in the area, tourism officials said.
The nature reserves of Tel Dan, Banias, Nahal Ayoun, Nahal Snir and Hula were all closed to the public. The national parks at Nimrod's Castle, Baram, Horeshet Tal, Achziv and Tel Hatzur were also shut.
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Nahariya residents taking cover in their bomb shelter Thursday. (Jini) |
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It does my heart good to see there exists Israelis who are not all HATE HATE! The best way to stop it all is to ask G W Bush to go to the UN and call for UN Separation and NOW! Such a call might lift his sagging polls and Israelis can have the "security" which they use quite constantly for accepting the status quo. The Hate Hate people demand that the Palestians give up the land, after all, the Jews mourned for 2,000 years for the land and they expect the Palestians to forget their land in less than 50 years. They call Palestians "terrorists" while they call the Israelis of the same ilk, "militants". Talk about dancing in the streets, I imagine Sharon did just that when GWB branded the Hamas & Hizzbollah terrorist Orgs. PEACE NOW by separation! Jim
Murderous Israelis? HA! What about sitting in a cafe and getting blown up by Palestinian terrorists? Or riding a bus? Or planting your fields? Or patroling your homelands border and getting kidnapped. Who would you want protecting your back? And have you asked yourself - why did the kidnappings happen?
May g-d bless u
I am shocked and apauled at the way the british media have covered this latest "out break". Sky news has a middleeast expert.........he is arabic..where is the voice of the jewish community or an Israeli?? No where to be seen, they were not invited. Tony Blair bends over backwards to appease and accomodate the arabic population in my country and i am ashamed. Long may the IDF look after our homeland and may hashem look after all our children that are fighting so bravely to protect our birthright. My thoughts and prayers arewith you all for you are all our children.
"does your historical knowledge only take you as far back as the 30`s? did life, people and truth not exist prior to that time? or are you (a european) too enlightened (anti- semitic) for that?" First of all, don't use the word anti-semite so loosely. I have nothing against Jewish, I'm Argentinian, and I was raised to respect every religion and people everywhere. And no, my historical knowledge goes further back, but it's not the same to try to correct (in part) what happened 60 years ago so there may be peace among Jewish and Arabs, than to argue that the Jewish have the sole right to live there because God said so, and because in ancient times they lived there. In contrast, if you would like to admit that right, then more right have the Palestinians to live there as well. And he extremists will always be there. But the moderates in both sides should prevail. It's true, you can undo history. But I don't foresee peace without Palestinians getting something back.
Yes..Do you thing IDF targets are civilians? Yes, IDF is very concerned to plot to kill cildren and women. They are of course always the first target for the IDF. They are the real danger against Israel not the terrorists. Israelies are not looking for terrorists, they are looking to create a humanitarian crisis again because of course this is in Israels best interest. Shall I continue....you've obviously been influenced by the "honest" reporting of Arab TV Channels and media. Try to see the reality.
I'm sending my best wishes from your partnertown Bielefeld in Germany. That tranquillity and peace may soon be back.
I pray for all of you daily living in Israel. Times are tough now but with strength we will prevail. We've faced tough times before and we have always come thorugh. This situation is no different. Hopefully the IDF will solve the problem with the Northern border once and for all. Sometimes it takes violence of this magnitude to solve a problem and it seems like this is one of those situations. I know its easy saying that here in LA, but I am hopefully going to Israel for a year in August. May god bless you all, especially those two soldiers.
well folks it.s easy to talk about a situation u witness only at TV, in ur lounge, or nicely laid in ur bed...ppl are ppl arabs or jews and point is they r dyin..when u walk up the streets and pray for god to give u another day, and watch for bombs or shotguns like everybody does in jerusalem,situation seems a bit different.Yes israeli soldiers are fucking brutal and they over do it lots of times.Yes arab terrorists are mindless and provoque us..in spite of this jewish ppl can get along very well with arab ppl and noone HAS to die.Just think who is behind all this manipulation?read history, then come and live among us..but im sure u wont
As some of the posts on this thread have pointed out,... These are VERY old claims that each side has for this "land" As admirable as the notion of peace and the value of human life may be, in the end, as History has PROVEN, This conflict over "dirt" or "Land" SHALL end in only one way... and that way will NEVER bode well with the "modern", "civilized" notions of peace, humanity, forgiveness, blah blah blah Who TRULY believes that either side (let alone both) could ever come out and say "Bygones be bygones" or "Lets all forgive and forget and continue on together as friends" or the most absurd... One side says, "Fine, you have it... and we'll leave" I suppose we as the world must feign "hope" that this will end in any other way than it ACTUALLY WILL. The TRUE sorrow in this whole ordeal is that the middle-east will inevitably consume ALL nations... it will suck us all in like a vortex... Just as it has done for Millennia My prayers to all in the Mid-East...
I am praying for my brothers and sisters to come through this terrible time and that more lives won't be lost on both sides. My dear Mother (94 years old) stayed in a shelter last night in Shavei Zion (next to Nahariya).
does your historical knowledge only take you as far back as the 30's? did life, people and truth not exist prior to that time? or are you (a european) too enlightened (anti- semitic) for that?
when you look at things with eyes half shut, ears half listening, brain half working and heart all dead, then the world is left with individuls such as yourself. that is very frightening.
I have to set back and see that in some ways, as Jews, we did take the land from the Arabs, but this stolen land has been fought over for thousands and thousands of years by multiple religions. For the most part, I do not see a problem living amongst the Arabs, Christians, you name it. And I do not believe that every Jew has a problem with the Arabs and vice versa. The problem lies on the extremists end (both sides). That- we tend to forget. In some essence, in every country around the world, land was stolen.. lets face it.. the U.S stole the land from the Native American Indians. Unfortunately, in any war, innocent civilians are killed. It is a sad truth and I believe those who chose to stay behind and fight for their "land" are aware of consequences that could happen. However, It doesn't make their sacrifice any less sad than those who leave and die.
First of all, excuse my simple English. I'm not so good at it. I read a LOT about the holocaust, and what the Europeans did to the Jews. I'm not Hungarian, but I know how many Hungarian Jews died here and in Auschwitz. And I really feel so guilty about what we are able to do to each other. What as humans we did and we do. What you have to understand is that the place the Jewish emigrated to since 1880 wasn't an empty dessert. Well, I guess you know this. I can't imagine Jewish children in Israel don't learn this at school. There's an undeniable truth that the people living in refugee camps in Gaza and West Bank, where the original population of that land. There is data, there are records. Even the English census Palestine, and show a strong majority of Arabs. In 1946 the census counted 1,2 million Arabs and 600 000 Jews. Is this a lie?? here's the UNSCOP page: http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/eed216406b50bf6485256ce10072f637/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3!OpenDocument
dear sir, You have no idea what its like to be in a bomb shelter and have your kids crying. People should not die no matter what nation they happened to live in. All life is sacred, even Jews. Thank you, have a good day and I hope such hatred for our country can be removed from your heart. I wish life to all Arabs too, and I am sorry that the are dying
Stephen you have to be honest with yourself. are you really understanding the "big picture". when we send missiles we are targeting a certain terrorist. civilians die b/c they all live within eachother like someone mentioned previouisly and honestly what do you think happens when terrorist bomb a restaurant in israel: SOLDIERS OF WAR DIE? i dont think so buddy, innocent people eating are the ones who perish from this earth. When terrorists send katyusha missiles at us theyre unguided and the media doesnt seem to catch that. the only thing the media is good at is catching how young of a civilian ISRAEL hurts who was 50/50 probably trying to integrate himself in a terror organization anyway.
Israel is a country made from person like my mother. She borne in Budapest and she remain orfan 16 years old 1946 whent in Israel via Cipro and than she was sent to Ber Sheva in the desert. This people with no willing for war o revenge were obliged to defense. 1948 first war few Milions of Arabs against 600.000 jew all toghether (Elders,and children are part of this total amount)Maybe for a miracle we win. Never they give us peace. Now they want destroy Israel an than the entire world look around what happen.Please read some books and navigate internet to learn the history.
The Palestinian terrorists live amongst the cilvilians. It's a big big problem for us and a very clever tactic by the Arabs. Ofcourse Israeli's seem like mindless murderers, we are killing cilvilians, but when the people who are trying to kill you reside amongst those that dont, what do you do? Ask the U.N for help? Ha, fat chance of that. Think it about man. Jews as a collective are not cold killers, look at our history - never have been never will be. What we are though is very mindfull of the fact we dont have many true friends in the world and so are nervous about protecting ourselves. This is the world we live in, I wish it was different, I really do.
The Palestinian terrorists live amongst the cilvilians. It's a big big problem for us and a very clever tactic by the Arabs. Ofcourse Israeli's seem like mindless murderers, we are killing cilvilians, but when the people who are trying to kill you reside amongst those that dont, what do you do? Ask the U.N for help? Ha, fat chance of that. Think it about man. Jews as a collective are not cold killers, look at our history - never have been never will be. What we are though is very mindfull of the fact we dont have many true friends in the world and so are nervous about protecting ourselves. This is the world we live in, I wish it was different, I really do.
The Palestinian terrorists live amongst the cilvilians. It's a big big problem for us and a very clever tactic by the Arabs. Ofcourse Israeli's seem like mindless murderers, we are killing cilvilians, but when the people who are trying to kill you reside amongst those that dont, what do you do? Ask the U.N for help? Ha, fat chance of that. Think it about man. Jews as a collective are not cold killers, look at our history - never have been never will be. What we are though is very mindfull of the fact we dont have many true friends in the world and so are nervous about protecting ourselves. This is the world we live in, I wish it was different, I really do.
If you think of yourself as liberally minded European intellectuals, you should feel sympathy for people in Northern Israel just now (as you feel for civilians on the other side). If you keep looking for excuses, whether historical or current, to justify the lack of such sympathy for Israeli civilians, then look inside yourselves for the reasons other than objectivity... and your love for peace and justice. Israel is a sovereign country and if it is attacked it should respond. The response should be harsh and brutal, as harsh as brutal as possible, so that next time the terorrists will think twice before firing rockets at Israeili cities. As for the land, nobody questions land in Northern Israel, not Nahariya and not Safed. Who lived where in the 30s, 40s and 50s has nothing to do with current reality. Kennigsberg(Kaliningdard), for example, was a Prussian City. So what?
I would add to what Stephen Murray said, that these people are living in stolen land. They began to build this citiy in the 30s. All around this area there were Arab villages (like Umm el Faraj) till the '50s. And those people were expelled, their houses and willages stolen. I don't think it's fair to expell the Jewish now, but let's just not forget who is who.
Haaretz makes quite a few errors in its English, but at least the headlines should be done more carefully. "En masse" normally implies "all together" or everyone in one body, or the like. So, the headline here is quite misleading, as one finds when one reads the article. Please!
I don't think o. Yes it's difficult for them to have to leave their homes but let's be honest for a change. The army that is meant to be protecting them killed 7 children yesterday in Gaza (and has already targetted the power and water supplies of the civilian population in Gaza)and is threatening to bomb a residential neighbourhood in Beirut supposedly to kill Hezbollah members - they will then use that pretext to excuse themselves of responsibility for the inevitable civilian deaths. Civilians are NEVER legitimate targets but if Israel can ignore that fact then they need to realise that the same treatment will apply to their own people. Sympathy for the residents is wasted emotion considering the murderousness of Israel in recent months. I've lost count of the children slaughtered by the IDF in recent months.
I cannot go along at all with people like you, who raising up the Tora and crank up the same questions like you did it right now! Why WHy Why? True Judaism is not all connected to Zionism or Occupation of other peoples garden. You are talking all the time about enimies and forget people like you committing crimes every day, when you are sitting in other peoples land. Israel is lucky to be in this strong position now thanks to the support of the USA. We should use this Luck right now to make friends with our neighbours as long there is time for it. We should plan for our future for the sake of our children in a sustainable way! The day might come, where the worlds interest in the Near east is gone, the day might come where our neighbouring countries will get stronger, the day might come, were it will be too late raise up the white flag, but maybe this kind of situation is our jewish destiny.
Why have you capitulated to our enemies ??? why have you thrown out Jews from their land to give it to our worst enemies??? Why did the majority of Israel go along with this idiotic Expulsion plan. Why did the media demonize the rightious settlers were they have proven to be a stabilizing force and a security buffer??? Why are we not listning to the Almighty and his Torah that it is forbidden to give one Iota of land to our enemies ??? Here are the Katushas Kasams and the whole Arab world is Happy and Laughing. My Guess is we have a small window of opportunity to crush the Hizballah and Hamas if we will only play and hurt them a little bit on a prolong period of time this will earn the criticism of the world and this will turn out to be the next major Arab Israel war involving Egypt syria ...
The situation at the northern border is really sad (as well as in south). I feel really sorry with all the families and people over there who have to stay in shelters and dont know whats gonna happen next. I hope a kind of peace or at least cease-fire will come soon, so that people can come back to their "normal" life. But it this point I also would like to say (although its maybe not the right moment)that we, or specially the people in the north as well as in the south, can imagine now how the people in the Gaza-strip must have felt in the past couple of years. Somehow they always were in this kind of situation of unsecurity and they are still, they never knew when and where our next rockets will strike in. Im not a symphatisant with the palestinians, but i think we should try to understand also the other side and should give "something" NOT as an act of weakness, but more as an act of STRENGHT and reconciliation.
Dear friends in Israel, We pray for your welfare, and at the same time we hope for success in the war against the terror you're facing. I yearn for the day when Israel will live in security, and not have to worry about rockets falling from the sky. From the Diaspora I cannot truly feel what you feel, yet our hearts are with you. --Yoni
May G-d protect and help us all!