Sunday, July 16, 2006

Silence after the Storm

Moriah Avenue, one of Haifa's major thoroughfares,
at rush hour on Sunday (a regular work day in Israel)

I arrived in Haifa after on Saturday night, hoping to hang out with my sister and enjoy one of Israel's most beautiful cities. Instead of walking around in Wadi Nisnas, Hadar, and Bat Galim, however, we spent most of the day inside, watching the news and waiting for a signal that everything was okay or that more katyushot were coming. Finally, we had enough, and ventured outside in the late afternoon, to buy some groceries and breathe a bit of fresh air. The streets were empty and most shops had closed. The supermarket was open though. There were very few people on the streets, except for a few film crews. We were stopped by one very intrusive cameraman on our way back home. He inquired why we had left our apartment and how we felt, and then zoomed in on our shopping bags, asking what we had bought. He also asked us whether we supported the IDF's current operations. Maybe our European readers can tell us whether we made it onto French television.

As we walked through the deserted streets, my sister observed several times that it felt like Shabbat.

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