So I was very lucky to be put in the Kibbutz I was. Bar'am is situated in the deep north of Israel. It's about a one mile walk from the Lebanese border (more on that later). This region of the country is surrounded by an ocean of mountains, which is an alien sight to an Englishman. So I was pretty much creaming myself at having these mountains right on my doorstep. When the Jews started settling in Palestine/Israel, they had a massive hard on for planting trees. I suppose in the same manner you might redecorate a new house you'v just bought. Or perhaps it's to make their borders harder to penetrate from invading forces. But, whatever the reason, it really has transformed the landscape. Looking over at the treeless hills of Lebanon, you can see what it was like before the Jews came. I think the Israeli's can give themselves a pat on the back for that one.
I saw a lot of wildlife on these walks. I saw, snakes, lizards, deer, tortoises and jackals, to name a few. Just seeing a tortoise strolling in the wild was such a spin out at first. I must of really shown how foreign I was by getting all excited by an animal these people must see everyday. I remember being on a bus to Jerusalem, we drove past a camel and I went mental.
"OH MY GOD! DID YOU SEE THAT?! IT WAS A CAMEL! HAHA!"
I was sitting next to an Israeli friend, who just looked at me like I was severely retarded.
Jackals were also completely foreign to a lot of people. I only ever saw one on it's own. But you could be sure that at every sunset, these little bastards would start howling to the moon. God knows how many of them it was. I got used to it, but I remember when I first heard these things I thought it was a pack of Scousers crying for my possessions! One Viking type Swede wanted to go into the forest one night and hunt one with his bare hands. I drunkenly agreed to help him on this pointless quest. It never materialised though because I was always to drunk to go and help him. One time he gave a classic Johnny Foreigner moment when he got a bag of meat to use as bait. He struts over to me and booms: "I have the meat...now I need a man". I started pissing myself with laughter, he failed so see what was so amusing though! Here's a picture I got of one and some of the area:
Not that long ago though, this region was right in the thick of it. To the north of Israel is Lebanon. The south of Lebanon is mostly ruled by a militant Muslim group called Hezbollah. The Lebanese government isn't strong enough to do anything about it. These boys aren't to be taken lightly. I have a feeling the fact that Iran is constantly pumping Hezbollah with cash and weapons may have something to do with this. In layman terms, their not too keen on Israel and vice-versa. One morning on the 12th July 2006, Hezbollah planted IEDs on the Israeli side of the border and blew up two armoured Humvees. This killed three IDF soldiers, injured two and two more were captured.
It was when I learnt this story that my view on the whole Palestine/Israel thing started to change a bit. In the UK, our news always makes out that it's these poor defenceless Arabs who get blown to kingdom come by the big bullies of Israel. Well clearly this time, Israel had done nothing wrong and Hezbollah wanted to play Bertie big bollocks by capturing two Israeli soldiers. After this happened, Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz said, "if the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years" and this they did. They sent Lebanon back to the f*cking stone age. I remember seeing this on the news and thinking "Wow, those Israeli's are arseholes. Only 50 Israeli's dead and over 1000 Lebanese dead. That's not fair". Which I suppose is rich coming from a man who's armed forces have inflicted more casualties on Afghans than any Afghan has on Brits.
Does that make the British Army bad people? No. It's just part of war. Part of the fact that NATO has the technology to do such big damage and the Taliban doesn't. So does that mean NATO should downgrade their weapons to make it 'fair'? No. Just like it's not Israel's fault their military is far superior to any of the surrounding nations. Israel's approach to war is pretty much "Don't start nothing and there won't be nothing". I always thought Israel was the aggressor, but after reading up on it, they merely smash down those who attack them in the first place.
I don't want people to think I'm completely 'pro-Israel'. I think to pick a side like this as if it's a football game is ridiculous. Both sides have a very valid point and this is the problem. The Israel/Palestine problem has many similarities to Northern Ireland. I actually feel for the Palestinians, there's no doubt that their getting a rough deal. Just like I have no doubt the Catholics in N.I. were getting a rough deal. But as long as you PURPOSELY blow up innocent people to try and get your message across, no-one's going to listen and you deserve every bit of brutal retaliation you get! Israel's not helping matters with the whole West Bank settlement thing. I know a few secular Israeli's who oppose this. Israeli's are normal people who want to live a normal life. You think they love living the life of being surrounded by constant potential wars?
It's a situation I don't envy at all and I'm so happy to live in a country that doesn't have this problem on it's plate. The Israelis were always telling me that the war with Hezbollah will kick off again soon. Whether this is true or their understandable state of paranoia, I don't know. But I imagine it won't be pretty. I didn't see one bit of war during my time in Israel. My closest to any action I got was when I was hiking in the mountains one day. I heard a bang in the distance and then another louder one which shook the ground. Needless to say I started walking double time. Because the Kibbutz had a security fence around it, and I just pictured them closing the gate and refusing to let me in whilst a bunch of Hezbollah heavys closed down on me!
That's the difference between a terrorist attack in the UK and one out there. In the UK, if it happens, it will be in a crowded public place. In Israel, you could be sitting at home in your underwear watching Top Gear, when all of a sudden a missile comes falling on you. It must be at the back of every Israelis mind, because I know it was mine. About once every few weeks or so, the thought would pop up in your head. I could appreciate even more how safe my country is when I sat down on a park bench and thought "I've got more chance of death by tripping over a dog turd than a missile falling on me".
Hezbollah were really close to the Kibbutz. Here's a map (with genuine IDF war tactics on them!) and some pictures I took at the border:
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| Genuine military map from the 2006 war :p |
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| Lebanon |
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| I think these bullets are from the 2006 war. Some unlucky bastard must of got hit because there were still Morphine needles on the ground! |
Right, I think we'll wrap it up there folks. I went a bit more political today, because to go to Israel and not get political is like going shopping with the girlfriend and not getting pissed off!
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