Eilon, Tuesday, July 18, 2006 6:17 PM
Hello friends
In the past hour there was an intense barrage which lasted here for several minutes across a wide front. Several rockets struck within Israel, and it at least sounded like one's nightmare version of a concerted bombardment. Most of the turbulence was directed northward. A few casualties were reported, a few buildings were damaged in Nahariya, and one person was killed by a direct hit in one of the town's parks as he hurried to the nearest shelter. A number of these rockets fell in Western Galilee. Shortly after the shooting subsided we heard sirens, probably from the emergency services, which coincided with the warning sirens that we heard on TV alerting Haifa's residents to take shelter.
Plots and Conspiracies
I spoke with David Gallen and all is well at Adamit except for the mysterious poisoning of its dogs. According to David someone distributed poisoned meat around the premises causing at least half a dozen dogs to die. There is a suspicion that the poison was planted by an outsider, and that this may be part of a more sinister plot linked to the current crisis.
This morning we had difficulty activating the reservoir's pump, which commences operation through a wireless transmission from our computer. Because of the situation, our unanchored imaginations freely wandered into new and unexplored directions. Could the Scorpio [wireless] system been effected by the passage of all the electronic military transmissions in our area? Did a rocket strike a pylon, thus causing a power outage? We'll never know. Danny pulled the plug and then reinserted it. Presto, the power was grudgingly restored!
Intermittent shelling continues. Bursts of naval gunfire, probably from 25 -30 mm machine guns, can be heard in the distance.
During the day Shlomi came under fire, the exploding rocket igniting a nearby blaze. The smell of smoke aloft in the western sea breeze permeates our flat. Outside, the whining drone of a prop plane circled overhead as it sought to control the fire. Above it, war planes and helicopters joined the general fray.
Eilon's jeep drives down the main thoroughfare, Moshe, our security chief, exhorting the residents of Van Gogh, through his loudspeaker, to remain indoors because of nearby explosions.
Beams of light from the sun, shortly setting across a tranquil sea's horizon, intersperse with the shadows of the grape vine on the brown shutters.
Love-Barry