Good morning! I'm writing at two in the afternoon here, which would be 7:00 a.m. EST, and I'm hoping that you will get this at about the same time you hear on the radio or television that Haifa has now sustained two or three volleys of rockets from Lebanon. Frank and I are fine. But I want to describe to you what it's like here under such unusual circumstances!

This morning I woke up and took a walk at around 7:30. Everything was fine, normal, people driving to work, etc. The early morning news only told of a quiet night in the north of Israel. I got home, thinking about breakfast, a shower, and then a trip to Hadar (one of Haifa's three big sections) to get some chemicals for film development. And shortly after that, I don't remember what time it was, the phone rang and it was our friend Sylvia calling from California, just to check on us. And in the middle that that phone call I heard boom -- boom! boom! and I said to her that I hear booming and I thought it might be sonic booms which we often hear from planes training over the Mediterranean, but then shortly after that there were sirens all over the city. Frank and I (and Sylvia) hastened into our bedroom which is actually very good, I would think -- it has no exterior walls and only a small window. We waited a while till the booms stopped and then went out to check the television. Sylvia hung up to go to sleep, for it was about 11:30 in California at that time. And so the day has gone. There have been two or three more volleys of rockets, preceded by sirens. In fact it just happened as I started to write this letter, and this time Frank and I went down to the bomb shelter which is in the building just to see what it was like. Lots of parents and children and we met people we've never met here before!

So we are at home because the Pikud HaOref (or Homeland Security) has told everyone from Haifa northward to stay in their homes today. In fact, they have warned everyone from Tel Aviv northward to "increase their vigilance." Eight or nine people (depends on which news you listen to) have been killed in this morning's actions in Haifa; as it turns out they were all killed in a direct hit on a train depot. (Not a train station, but a place where the trains are cleaned, repaired, etc.) Almost all of the rockets have fallen in towns on Haifa Bay, not directly in Haifa, but I say almost because there have been some. But on the other side of the mountain. It's been interesting to me to see how my mind works; since this has started I've been thinking Well, there's no need to be worried because it's all in the North, but now I'm thinking Well, there's no need to be worried because its all on the other side of the mountain........

In Haifa nothing much is moving; there is very little traffic and most people are home, I guess. It's very much like a snow day in Chapel Hill!!! Except that we can hear planes overhead all day (too high to spot) and helicopters fly up and down the coast, which we can see from our living room window. And this morning, after the first volley, we saw several boats steaming south as fast as they could go. Several people who live in the south have called and offered us refuge, but neither Frank nor I are interested in leaving.

It is rather horrifying to observe how every country is using this incident to further their own political agenda. The US isn't interested in intervening because it wants Hezbollah out of the way because it's a terrorist organization. The Iranians and the Syrians are obviously complicit in supporting Hezbollah and providing them with the weapons, including the long-range rockets they are using to hit Haifa (and threatening points south). The Palestinians are having rallys and parties in the streets supporting Hezbollah. And as you know, countries around the world are castigating Israel for responding with too much fire-power. Israel has a right to defend herself, but not too much. And poor Lebanon -- as usual, caught in the middle between forces that she cannot control. Lebanon can't get rid of Hezbollah (Hezbollah is actually a political party in Lebanon) and Syria wants back into Lebanon and the Lebanese government is too weak to prevent any of this from happening. And so no one is willing to intervene -- the US is probably the only government strong enough to intervene but they are very happy for Israel to do the dirty work of destroying Hezbollah. So there you have it.

Stay tuned!

Love,
pat