PERSIAN GULF CRISIS
In Israel's Weirdest War,
Emergency Is Routine
The rear has become the front, peaceniks
support the war and the army receives
kudos for not fighting.
INA FRIEDMAN
Special to The Jewish News
J
erusalem — The
"routine of emergen-
cy" is the oxymoron
that President Chaim Her-
zog coined last week for the
state that Israel and its
citizens will be in for the
weeks, and perhaps months,
to come.
The emergency has been
strongly felt since the out-
break of the war. This week,
however, Israel began trying
to restore a semblance of
routine. Despite another
shattering missile attack on
Tel Aviv and its suburbs last
Friday night, which cost the
life of a man whose home
took a direct hit, people
throughout the country
returned to work and high
school children to their
classrooms.
Ma Friedman writes from
Jerusalem.
The realization that, like it
or not, Israel has been roped
into Iraq's war = and that it
is going to be a much longer
haul than originally ex-
pected — spread depression
in some quarters.
But mostly it was anxiety
that held the country in its
grip, for above all Saddam is
subjecting Israel to an
exhausting war of nerves.
His missiles have not only
forced Israelis to cope with
the terrifying threat to life
and limb, they have cracked
some pillars of the country's
national ethos, leaving
many citizens looking at
what appears to be a reverse
image of themselves — and
feeling baffled by the sight.
Without doubt, the 1991
conflict will go down in his-
tory as Israel's weirdest war,
if only because all the expec-
tations of wartime conduct
have been turned upside
down. The rear has become
the front; peace activists are
supporting the war; and one
of the best armies in the
world has received kudos for
failing to fight. Above all, a
society raised to strike back
to violent provocation, as
hard and as fast as possible,
has been reduced to dashing
into sealed rooms and donn-
ing gas masks whenever the
sirens wail — and, so far,
wholly supports a policy of
self-restraint.
Little wonder, then, that
notwithstanding the toll of
dead and injured, for now it
is the country's nerves that
are taking the worst
beating.
Often the nights without
an air-raid are the most
difficult, as countless
citizens suffering from the
"other-shoe syndrome" toss
and turn till dawn, waiting
for the sirens to go off. (The
state-run radio and televi-
sion broadcast all night,
now, in deference to the in-
somniacs.) Tension mounts
throughout the country as
soon as dusk falls. Great
calculations are made before
embarking on such routine
tasks as bathing a child,
taking a shower, throwing
out the garbage, or walking
the dog, -lest one get caught
by a siren in the middle.
It surprised no one that a
recent poll showed 50 per-
cent of the participants in
Tel Aviv and Haifa admit-
ting to "nervousness and
anxiety," while 36 percent
did not believe they would
hold up if the situation con-
tinues for long. Still, a full
76 percent were against
taking any retaliatory ac-
tion.
Whole apartment blocks
emptied out in Tel Aviv as
residents moved in with
friends and relatives or took
rooms in hotels in other
cities. Up to 30,000 people
are reported to be bunking
in Jerusalem, and so many
Tel Avivians have relocated
to Eilat that Arika, Israel's
internal airline, has in-
stituted a shuttle service
between the two cities.
But the most telling sign of
this situation is the huge
traffic jam that chokes Tel
Aviv's highways each after-
noon during the great escape
for those who have returned
to work but not to sleep in
town. The height of irony is
that people from the coast
have found a haven even in
towns like Ariel on the West
Bank and the Katif set-
tlements in the Gaza Strip.
Just weeks ago these areas
were considered practically
off limits in the heart of
"intifada-land."
But with the Palestinian
population under curfew
since the start of the war, to-
day they are among the most
secure places around.
For the most part, Israelis
are digging in close to their
One enterprising
psychologist has
written a children's
book whose rabbit
protagonist wears
a gas mask. Many
citizens can't
sleep at night,
waiting for the
sirens to go off.
own sealed rooms, aware
that the front they man is a
psychological one and that
they must simply find ways
to cope with their perfectly
natural and justified sense of
fear.
The papers are full of ad-
vice on the subject that
ranges from instructions on
breathing exercises to what
foods to avoid (sweets, since
the subsequent drop in blood
sugar prompts a rise in
anxiety) and what to binge
on (complex carbohydrates,
such as whole-wheat bread,
pasta, and lentils). A pro-
fessor of clinical psychology
at Tel Aviv University
offered the down-to-earth
advice of easing the situa-
tion by doing pleasant
things with your time: wat-
ching comedies, eating good
food, and making love — in
the afternoon, one might
add, lest the siren catch you
at it after dark.
Perhaps the most atten-
tion is devoted to the plight
of the country's children,
with the main issue being
how to.protect them without
scarring their minds for life.
Sadly, the first Israeli victim
of the war was a seven-year-
old girl from the Arab
village of Taybe who suf-
focated when her parents
forced a gas mask on her
against her will. To calm the
kids and keep them busy,
the media have been filled
with special programs,
replete with talk-in portions
that allow youngsters to
relate their experiences and
vent their fears.
The Ministry of Education
has also set up special
"hotlines" manned by men-
tal-health professionals.
One enterprising psychol-
ogist, Dr. Muli Lahad of the
northern-border town of
Kiryat Shmonah (which has
had long experience with
rocket attacks) just brought
out a special children's book
about chemical warfare
whose rabbit protagonist
wears a gas mask. The
book's text tries to lighten
the mood in the sealed room,
while the illustrations
enable it to double as a color-
ing book to keep the kids
engaged until the all-clear
sounds.
Dr. Lahad points out that
kids respond to what they
pick up from their elders, so
that self-possessed parents
are the best way to ward off
panic in their offspring.
Though sometimes self-
evident, the learned advice
is always helpful —if only as
a diversion from the day's
grim headlines. Yet Israelis
know that what they need to
keep going in these times is
not Sominex or spaghetti but
quiet courage. And on the
whole, they have earned a
high rating on that score. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
21