Août 23, 2014

Day 44 and 45 – The war of attrition

Thank you Marlene Ferron for the translation

44th day – August 20, 2014 – Rockets Record

168 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel. It seems that this is a record. Cities around Tel Aviv were targeted but no alert in Tel Aviv. And Hamas said to have opened for us the gates of hell.

Snatches of conversation

I walk home from work to take the pulse of the city and found that Tel Aviv is behaving as if nothing happened. Many people in the streets despite the heat. I pass through the market, the Shuk HaCarmel. I steal snatches of conversation. A 10 year old child asks his father to explain to his brother what « escalation » means the word « haslama » in Hebrew. Further on, a dialogue between two merchants: What will become of us? Do not worry, everything will be fine.
Two teenagers discuss: one with a total confidence in the Iron Dome, prefering the explosions without the sirens. It’s the sound of the siren that scares him most.

On the shelves, T-shirts, flags, pendants with the colors of Israel. A reflex on time of war, I suppose. At the Shuk HaCarmel the « In » T-Shirt is one that displays: » I like the Iron Dome ». I, myself, do like the Iron Dome as well as the many French tourists I meet in the city.

dôme de fer

Iron Dome

I stop at Shlomo, in the « Kerem HaTeimanim », the Yemeni district, the coffee merchant on Yishkon street. He sings in his shop every Friday morning at 11:00. He explains that he is the third generation to sell coffee in this house. That he was a professor of Hebrew, that at age 40, he decided to live his life, to take singing lessons and not to let the family business die. He puts me in a good mood.

Psychological Warfare

Hamas announces that tomorrow morning at 6:00, they will attack massively Ben Gurion Airport.

45th day – August 21, 2014 – The War of Attrition

I sleep badly more worried by the fact that Anaël went out late than by the threats of Hamas.

No massive attack on the airport this morning. I’m pretty surprised, as the last time they promised us an attack, they kept their word. Royal Jordanian Airlines, which had only resumed their flights this week, yielding to the threats of Hamas, canceled their flights to Israel this morning. And tonight it was the turn of the Turkish Airline « Pegasus » to cancel its flights.

As for my my lucubrations yesterday about the French namesakes of Pirouz, (demilitarization in Hebrew), Esther Orner reminds me that Swann frequented the restaurant « La Perouse » because Odette lived in a street by that name. How pleased I am to be able to add Proust to this newspaper !

It is Esther who writes this morning on Facebook:

War or an operation? Joke aside, this is a war of attrition. So I decided to return to my daily routine, instead of waiting for the next break. No, Hamas will not dictate our way of life.

I totally agree with Esther. In any case, this is how we should try to live.
But my good resolutions fly away when I learn that a person was seriously injured this morning by shellfire. This is Jehan Berman, a Belgian-Israeli, 33, who was shot while celebrating his son’s birthday in a kindergarten in a kibbutz of the Eshkol region while helping getting the children in the shelter. I wish him a speedy recovery.

So far, this 45th day, 80 rocket attacks on Israel. Shortly before 21 hours, firing of rockets into Modi’in, Maccabim, Reout, Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Territories, including Ramallah.

But I still want to strengthen life and happiness. So we shall take delight in a Houla Oup show in Tel Aviv.