Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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 Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:34 am Post subject: Haifa's Arabs, Jews appear united |
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(07-1 8 ) 04:00 PDT Haifa, Israel -- This normally bustling city of a quarter-million people was reduced to a ghost town again Monday as a daylong barrage of rocket attacks left a dozen people injured, smashed cars and buildings across the city, and prompted most residents to take cover indoors.
But the second day of attacks appears to have hardened support among the city's besieged residents for their government's aggressive military campaign against Hezbollah.
Asher Vered, 75, caretaker of a synagogue, stood among the shattered glass and held a marble memorial stone that was blown off the wall by an explosion.
"My grandchildren have left the city. Small children don't need this kind of trauma," said Vered. "But I have no intention of leaving. I've lived in Haifa since 1936, and I fought in five wars. This is nothing new, and we aren't scared."
The worst damage was caused by a direct hit on a three-story apartment block in the old part of Haifa, near the seafront, that injured five people. A Katyusha rocket ripped off the outside wall of the building, bringing down the upper floors and leaving furniture and carpets hanging precariously in the air. The windows of buildings and cars within a 100-yard radius were blown out, and nearby buildings were pockmarked from the thousands of steel ball bearings packed in the rocket.
Chen Sasson, 18, said she was at home with her mother and young brother and sister trying to take cover when they heard the huge explosion down the street.
"We heard the siren and laid on the floor, trying to keep the children from panicking," Sasson said. "My mother was very scared.
"These people have no heart. We didn't do anything to them for six years since Israel left Lebanon, and still they attack us."
In addition to the hardening resolve, the harmonious relations between Haifa's Jewish and Arab citizens appear to remain intact.
"This is a mixed city where Jews and Arabs live in harmony, but with Hezbollah we are being forced to deal with the trash of the Muslim world," said Vered.
In fact, the seemingly indiscriminate Hezbollah rocket attacks have targeted both Jewish and Arab towns throughout northern Israel, including Acre, the ancient Crusader city of Richard the Lionheart and home to Arabs and Jews alike. One rocket hit the holy gardens of the Bahai Temple. There were no casualties.
Arab Israelis, who in the past have opposed Israeli army operations against Palestinians in the occupied territories and to Israel's previous occupation of Lebanon, express little sympathy for Hezbollah.
"Unlike previous conflicts between Israel and the Arabs, this time Israeli Arabs are sitting on the sidelines," said Khaled Abu Tomaeh, Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. "Hezbollah is not the Palestinians."
Ada Aharoni, founder of the "Four Mothers" movement, which led public protests against Israel's occupation of Lebanon until it ended in 2000, said the extensive assault against Hezbollah had her full support.
"We are all for it," said Aharoni. "We are liberating our northern frontier, and we are liberating the Lebanese from the extremists and the Iranians who control them. I think it had to be done."
Moshe Elad, a commentator for Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily, said Hezbollah's actions had helped Israelis achieve a rare unity.
"It's been many years since the Israeli public supported a war so broadly against an enemy who 'deserves it,' " he said.
"(Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah managed to unite Israel in a way that no president, prime minister or chief of staff has ever been able to do. Our operation is very much justified," said Yossi Beilin, leader of the left-wing Meretz party.
Beilin also sounded a note of caution.
"Without a diplomatic process, this story will never end. Anyone who thinks that the Hezbollah will be pushed back and the kidnapped soldiers returned through military action alone is wrong," he said. |
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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/18/MNGN3K0VNG1.DTL |
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