Eilon, Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Hello friends
Late yesterday afternoon I was busily engaged replying to a letter by our friend Anita. I began by allaying her concerns for our safety. "Things are bad, but not that bad." Suddenly, during the usual broadsides; artillery fire, sonic booms and a variant mix of resonances disassembling across the hollows and flanks, I picked up on consecutive fizzes, either followed by, or preceding what sounded like yet another explosion in the potpourri ensemble.This sound recalled a type of firework with a derogatory name that was common place during 4th of July celebrations when I was a child. In East New York they were simply known as ".......... chasers" for the way they snaked their way across the ground. From our window, facing west, it sounded like such a "chaser" but I had the image of a frenetic Chinese dragon jerking and twisting along the nearby road.
Debby appeared at the doorway, "What was that?" straining to recognize that whir.
"I don't know", I answered with a confident amount of sangfroid.
We had heard something similar to this sound before, which turned out to be an Israeli missile. It sounded like it was letting off steam or air like a compressor before taking off. Then the phone rang, it being Dan reporting from his aerie at Adamit. From the observation deck, Dan's patio, it was possible to witness the explosions; two of which were to our west, in or near the orchard. We heard that another had fallen further north, near the cemetery. We smelled smoke, and went outdoors to verify it.
I had phoned David, the field manager, and then spun the ATV toward the orchard. Reaching the nearby round-about at the entrance to the Van Gogh houses, I waited until two ambulances had raced down the street into the community.
Smoke billowed up nearest the western edge of these homes. The disused kiwi ghost orchard was ablaze and Richie and David were trying to control it [without much success] with the fire wagon hitched to the old blue Massey Ferguson. As I gathered my senses to record the scene, Oun from the Nature Reserve and another fellow from the Border Police unit greeted me. A gaggle of cars and numerous types representing the emergency services were all about the place, waiting the arrival of the fire engine. That truck arrived in short time so we knew that the situation was under control. The blaze could be allowed to consume the weeds, scorch the ground, but could not pass the open corridor between sections, or ignite the needles of a stand of nearby pine trees. The closest homes were undamaged. The fire engine was from Holon-Bat Yam, two towns from the center of the country. Its presence in the north attests to the current situation whereby southern fire fighting units have been mobilized to combat blazes, especially brush fires in the north caused by wayward rockets exploding in empty fields throughout the countryside.
The ghost kiwi orchard is the northern section of a partially abandoned field. It lies across from the perimeter road and the orchard enclosure. Pitaya cactus [dragon fruit] is grown in the south section. The rocket struck the side of the road and ignited a fire in the old weed infested orchard. I call it a ghost orchard because the abandoned vines appear as they were when alive and pruned in their last winter.
David and I made a cursory check for the other rocket that we think has fallen in the orchard. We haven't yet found it.
After a day of hard fighting in Bint Jbail in southern Lebanon criticism is mounting about how this war is prosecuted. Aside from the many questions regarding a security zone in southern Lebanon [an enhanced Litani Campaign] there is concern that this house to house, village to village type of fighting is unnecessarily wearing the troops down. The ground offensive, tactics aside, some say, should have begun earlier. Mobilizing even more reservists could help.
Despite an Israeli victory, the obstinate resistance of the Hezbollah fighters and their ability, under the circumstances, to hold out for as long as they have, may do more for their own heroic image. Hezbollah is quick to seize this opportunity to remind its viewers at its al-Manar satellite television channel of how well it can absorb Israeli punishment without crumbling; how its "success" in resisting Israel has well surpassed that of numerous Arab armies or how it capably continues to launch a daily dosage of some one hundred rockets into Israel after more than two weeks into this war. If Hezbollah can sustain its own momentum by continuing to shower Israel with rockets until a ceasefire comes into effect, it will consider this trading of blows as a great victory. The question of course, once the guns are silent, is how the luckless Lebanese will view all this?
Love-Barry
ps included is a photo attachment of the fire caused by the katyusha rocket in the ghost kiwi orchard,note the angles of the Van Gogh homes in the background