Adamit, Wednesday, August 02, 2006

I went to a shelter in the Ragum neighborhood of Nahariya because my newspaperman wanted to write a story about a night in a shelter. His editor had a story from their Beirut correspondent about a night in a Lebanese shelter, but didn't want to publish that article without a similar one from the Israeli side. The attempt to show both sides' suffering is commendable but does not provide an accurate portrayal. Newspapers are focusing on the suffering and misery that each side experiences. This is certainly true of the pictures of bombed buildings coming from Lebanon. Both sides are suffering but there is no “equality” to their suffering. I had gone to Nahariya ahead of time to find a shelter where people would be willing to be interviewed and welcome a foreign journalist that would spend the night with them. The shelter that I selected was a large shelter with a low income population. There were many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, Moroccan Jews, native born Israelis and one couple from Lebanon. Tony and his wife Samira have been living in Israel for six years. They fled South Lebanon when Israel retreated. Tony had been an officer in the SLA, the South Lebanese Army that had consisted of Lebanese citizens that found themselves cut off from Northern Lebanon during their country's Civil War and fought alongside Israel. He would love to return to Lebanon but Hizballah would execute him. He has become an Israeli citizen. This means that he has lots of complaints about how the government is treating him but he is a successful greengrocer with his own store and is not doing too badly, thank you. After six years he still finds himself hiding from Hizballah attacks. The people that I met when I first came to the shelter told me to talk to Tony. Tony is in charge of the shelter. He is the head man accepted by everyone living underground. We did not arrive empty handed. I had picked pears and peaches in the afternoon and the reporter brought four six packs of beer to share with the shelter's residents. The shelter itself is a large complex consisting of two large halls. There are beds along the walls that can be folded out but everyone was sleeping on mattresses spread out on the floor. The beds were utilized as storage shelves. One large room was full of mostly elderly people and most of them were Russian immigrants. Many of them had probably survived World War Two as children but they spoke only Russian. In the other large hall were people of all ages from young children to grandparents. People who in their normal lifetimes would not befriend one another because they speak different languages, come from different cultures and are of different generations find themselves living like sardines. Our visit occurred during a “ceasefire” but the police told everyone to continue to occupy the shelters. There are days when there are fifty people in the shelter. The night we visited there were only thirty five. Tensions were rising after spending three weeks together. Life in a shelter is a battle with boredom. Boredom usually perseveres. While combating boredom and trying to think of something to do, you must be careful where you step. There are mattresses spread all over and people's belongings are nearby. You don't want to step on someone's sheets. Tempers are short. There is always television that is usually broadcasting news about the situation and people are overdosing on this type of news coverage. An acceptable decibel level and a decision must be made about what language must be determined to everyone's satisfaction. Children have little consideration for others but must be kept busy. Some are afraid, others seem to think it is a type of summer camp with elderly people and no sun. The elderly have their own needs. Elderly people that need assistance are still living in an old age home in Nahariya. It has an underground shelter that can be reached by an elevator. Svetlana, from the Ukraine works at the old age home but comes to sleep at the shelter. Her 93 year old father is a resident there. Five other members of her family are in the shelter with her. Activities are arranged during the day. Volunteer counselors come to occupy the children with arts and crafts, games and other activities. Board games have been brought to the shelter for the children. Cleaning is one of the daytime projects. There is no room for a rotation system with this shelter's demographics of elderly and young. Cleaning is done daily by two of the women. Cooking is not allowed in the shelter. The municipality brings TV dinner style food and some people will go home to cook. Going home can be dangerous. A Katusha rocket landed in a school yard behind the shelter and has blown out most apartments' windows and shutters. There is broken glass everywhere. The shelter has a bathroom but no shower. People will go home to shower and deodorant is a must. All in all, the shelter is clean and orderly. There are no trash or odors but in the first few days things were different. There was no air-conditioning. Now there are several and the temperature is pleasant. The entrance to the shelter is where people go to talk. There are several chairs near the entrance and people sit around to discuss the day's events. Smokers can indulge their habit there. The shelter was well maintained and recently painted and fumigated. From a central location the municipality opened the shelter electronically. In the past there was someone in every neighborhood that held the key to the shelter but that was not a good solution. Sometimes the key could not be found or people came to the shelter before the key arrived. People get along. They have no choice. Maybe it is part of Israeli mentality from reserve duty. In the reserves an Israeli often find himself doing things with someone he would never meet outside of the reserves. There is a feeling that everyone in the shelter shares a common destiny. People overwhelmingly support the government. There are few political arguments. Shimon was the first to see us when we arrived with fruit and beer. He offered us the use of his refrigerator. My own taste prefers cold beer and it seemed like a generous act so I accepted his offer. I translated the offer for my friend the reporter and he handed the beers to Shimon who whisked them into his refrigerator. That was a Big mistake. Tony was offended that I did not talk to him before handing the beer to Shimon and didn't want anything to do with us. We had given Shimon the beer and he doubted if we'd ever get it back. We did get the beer but over a period of time. Shimon, who is 51 years old and has several health problems, would proudly hand them out, one at a time, as if he had purchased them himself with his last shekel. Talking with Shimon and asking him for beer was also difficult because he is hard of hearing and needs a hearing aid. Shimon talks non-stop and at full volume. His fellow residents put up with him but after three weeks, their tolerance is limited and admirable. The battery for Shimon's hearing-aid ran down when Katushas started raining down upon Nahariya. There was no place to go to get a replacement. Finally the municipality arranged to bring one from Jerusalem. Tony pouted for awhile but came to realize that I had made a mistake. I assured him that next time I would seek his advice before doing anything. I left my reporter friend after translating for a few hours. Tony assured me, “Don't worry, I speak good English very well!” Tony provided a mattress and a sleeping place on the floor not far from him, I left him with two sheets and a sleeping bag. I almost stayed longer. A young Ukrainian was going to bring his synthesizer and perform Russian music. He had a captive audience. I opted to go home, to my wife, my bed and to my life as I live it. I admire the people I met in Nahariya and doubt that I could put up with what they are living through. I would have become emotionally upset (crazy) if I had to live so many weeks in a shelter. My sanity is not what I'm writing about. Visiting the shelter made me proud. Israel takes care of its citizens. Many have moved south and there is help to do that but those who stay are looked after and provided for. There are shelters for everyone so nobody is in actual danger. The main concern that Israelis have is monetary. What will happen to their salaries? How will businesses survive when all of the customers had to find other suppliers? The government has guaranteed that salaries will be paid in full and other financial assistance will be provided. When you watch CNN or any international new agency there are terrible pictures of the suffering in Lebanon and very few about Israel. The story should not be about the suffering but about the two nations and how they cope. Lebanon and Israel knew there would be a war. The timing may have surprised someone but not the war. You do not import 12,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges if you are not planning to attack someone. The people of Lebanon suffer first because they attacked Israel but also because the government did not and does not care for its people. That should be the story. Do not compare the pictures of Lebanon's suffering to Israel's suffering. Compare how the two nations cope with the situation. Then you can see how a democracy can excel. As I am about to send this letter the news reports that over 150 Katusha rockets have landed in the Galilee and it's the middle of the day. There has been one fatality in Kibbutz Sa'ar, next to Nahariya. Needless to say I am thinking about the occupants of the Nahariya shelter.

Dan Kohn Kibbutz Adamit

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