I owe you an explanation

As more of you started to point out, I have been quiet. Actually, quite the disappearance act I've performed, all the way to the northern part of Israel, to my hometown (until 14 years ago).

Yesterday afternoon I hopped on a plane, unable to be away from my family at this time any longer. Today I arrived.

I reached Haifa in the afternoon (Israel's afternoon, early morning N.America time). The rush hour traffic which I always hate was, of course, non-existent since Haifa is now a ghost town with everybody in their homes taking shelter.

I continued north to my hometown. When I reached the outskirts of my hometown, the first siren went off. We were still on the road, driving. We quickly parked the car and ran to the nearest building which happened to be an HMO with a very organized bomb shelter. The booms of the rockets falling could be heard even inside the shelter.

As soon as I reached my parents' apartment, about half an hour later, the second siren hit us and we took cover in the corridor, the inner most area of my parents northern (where the rockets are coming from) facing apartment. The building doesn't have a bomb shelter.

The third siren came about an hour later and we repeated the drill. It's been quiet (in our area) since then.

Any person who has ever been through the sounds of sirens and bombs falling around could tell you how unnerving it is. I constantly hear sirens in my head and every noise resembling a siren sound or a boom makes us all jump.

I do not want any political comments here please, especially the kind that claims Israel has no right to exist. Usually I can deal with it calmly, even though I do always take it to mean that these people think that I have no right to exist. But today I will not be able to handle it.

I feel greatly for the Lebanese people and their plight. Trust me, I understand their predicament more than any person living comfortably not knowing what a threat on their lives is. I've been through this in 91 during the 1st Gulf War when I sat in that same corridor with my gas mask on, and I'm here now feeling just as helpless, only able to hug my shaking mom. She hugs me back :)

I have internet as you can see and will try to post, although I may still not be able to post writing-related posts.

Categories: personal