While I Was Camping…

While I was camping, there were some new developments.

First, about camping. Luke complained that it was noisy at night while he was trying to sleep. We were staying near Tell Yalo, ancient Aijalon. Midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Yes, too noisy. The cows were mooing, the woodpeckers pecking, and the birds chirping.

But it also seems that Hezbollah made some new moves which make some of my comments yesterday in error. At least there is a new reality. It’s no longer just the northern border communities that are vulnerable, but the range of the missiles is greater (Haifa is about 30 miles from the Lebanese border). Do they have missiles capable of reaching Jerusalem? Possibly. Do they still after the last 24 hours of Israeli bombardment? Possibly. Is Israel capable of stopping them? Clearly not.

Hezbollah has killed a few and wounded a hundred, but the impact is greater in terms of the psychological impact. Having said that, I can say that in my very tiny world here, I have seen no change. At the weekly brunch at the community here, hundreds of Israelis were out enjoying the meal and the atmosphere. Traffic was quite normal (that means bad) in Jerusalem today and I noted that security officials guarding the streets seemed relaxed and not on any kind of alert status.

In any case, if you like predictions, here’s a good list of quotes compiled by Arutz-7 on Israel’s safety and the possibility of rockets being fired on Israel given the current peace process. Here’s one:

We’re familiar with the Likud’s horror stories. They promised us Katyushas from Gaza, but Gaza has been under the primary control of the Palestinian Authority for more than a year now, and there hasn’t been a single Katyusha.

Prime Minister, Yitzchak Rabin, Jun 20, 1995

So who was right? Can Rabin consider himself right if there weren’t Katyushas for 5 years? The gambles they make here have pretty big stakes.

PS Six years ago I never would have guessed I’d be camping with a Square B’er.