MOUNT NAFTALI FOREST, Israel (AP) — Huge swaths of forests and fields across northern Israel have been scorched by thousands of Hezbollah rocket strikes over the past three weeks, and experts said it would take nature at least 50 years to recover. Charred branches stuck out of the ground like grave markers at the Mount Naftali Forest overlooking Kiryat Shemona, … Read More
KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel (AP) — Yossi Vaknin says he’s got rocket-dodging down to a science since being forced underground by Hezbollah missiles. Sitting outside public shelter 110, in a tank-top and flip-flops, he smokes a cigarette and glances at his watch. It’s almost 4 p.m. “This is their time,” he says. Sure enough, just moments later, there is the familiar … Read More
ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER — Some 20 paratroopers sit on the grass, skullcaps on their heads and M-16 rifles lying gently on their laps, and sing the traditional tunes marking the end of the Sabbath. They have plenty of reason for prayer, to give thanks that they survived the fighting in Lebanon and to mourn their slain commander. “Yiftach used … Read More
METULLA, Israel (AP) – Lior Weinberg shakes his head and gazes out to where his apples, peaches, pears and plums rot on the ground in front of him. In Israel’s northernmost community, a little finger of land that juts into Lebanon, farmers like Weinberg haven’t fled to escape war or rocket fire. But still they are being hit hard, because … Read More
KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel (AP) — Israelis in northern Israel welcomed the Sabbath at synagogues and with traditional festive meals on Friday, but the continuing threat of Hezbollah rockets and an uncertain future loomed large. Abraham Weitzman, 58, said services at the “Beit Yaakov” synagogue in Kiryat Shemona would proceed as usual, only faster. “Today, they’ll be less singing,” he said, … Read More
ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER — Lt. Yaron Genkin never saw the Hezbollah guerrillas he and his men were fighting. What the 21-year-old tank commander did see were explosions all around him, and two friends killed before his eyes. But three days later, after attending their funerals, the battered and exhausted soldier says he is ready to go back across the … Read More
KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel (AP) — Israel’s prime minister expressed “deep regret” Wednesday over the killings of four U.N. observers in an airstrike and dismay over U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s accusation the bombing was “apparently deliberate.” Ireland filed an official protest with Israel alleging that its senior U.N. observer in Lebanon made six telephoned warnings about Israeli shelling near a U.N. … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Roy Bass emerged from the Mediterranean waves at noon Friday for a Popsicle break when, surfboard in hand, he heard his cell phone ringing on the beach. It was a recorded message: “An emergency draft has been activated.” Four hours later, the 27-year-old computer programmer was at an army base, in full uniform, preparing to head to Israel’s … Read More
NITZANIM BEACH, Israel (AP) — Revital Aburmad jerked from her sleep Tuesday morning to find herself lying on a strange beach. She had just had an awful nightmare; she was running to a bomb shelter, carrying her 2-year-old daughter in her arms, as the sounds of explosions echoed around her. The worst part was the scary scene was not far … Read More
KIBBUTZ KEREM SHALOM, Israel _ Palestinian militants sneaked into Israel underneath a Gaza border crossing Sunday, killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another, raising the threat of an all-out conflict in Gaza just a year after Israel’s pullout. Israel, which sent ground troops into Gaza after the assault, blamed the Hamas-led government and warned that militants and their leaders will be … Read More
RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) _ Some 20,000 frenzied fans sang along with Sting as he yelped out the familiar lyrics to one of his most famous songs. “Whoa, I’m an alien; I’m a legal alien,” reverberated throughout Israel’s largest stadium, in this suburb of Tel Aviv. Sting, of course, was referring to being an “Englishman in New York.” But he … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel – Hundreds of Jewish singles file into the ballroom of a luxury beachfront hotel and gather in separate groups. On one side are sharply dressed foreigners, almost all North Americans, wearing blue wristbands and making polite small talk. On the other side, Israelis with purple wristbands laugh, chatter loudly and smoke. JDate, the world’s biggest online Jewish … Read More
JERUSALEM – For one night, the skies above the Tel Aviv coastline came alight in a spectacular, unprecendented fireworks extravaganza that attracted hundreds of thousands of Israelis and was broadcast live on TV to the entire nation. The Tuesday night display, along with a fashion show and an exhibit of white tents emblazoned with the word “peace,” marked the beginning … Read More
UMM EL FAHM, Israel — Riham Agabaria has a left hook that will knock your socks off. Or your head scarf. Sparring in her hometown in northern Israel, the shy 15-year-old lets loose a strike that brushes back the traditional Muslim headdress of her opponent — younger sister Fatma, who is forced to flee to the restroom to rearrange her … Read More
JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — Can Israel afford to hand its nuclear briefcase to a man who spent much of his brief and unremarkable military service fixing tanks? The country is embroiled in a heated debate over whether Labor Party leader Amir Peretz, picked as Israel’s next defense minister, has the credentials for one of the nation’s most high-stress jobs — one … Read More