Waiting to Exhale

August 14, 2006 - 10:28 AM by Allison

Officially, the ceasefire is on, but the Home Front Command has not changed its orders for residents of the north — they are still
on their guard and nobody is relaxing just yet.

Of course, after the day of bombardment they experienced leading up to the ceasefire, they probably couldn’t relax under any circumstance. Carmia of Kishkushim kept a faithful record of the sirens and attacks from her home in Haifa — there were fifteen — count them — fifteen, over the course of the day.

She posted first thing in the morning, just half an hour before the ceasefire kicked in:

I am half awake, half asleep. I was talking to an old friend last night on the phone, and with the time difference between us, I was up until 4:00 AM. I went to sleep only to be jerked awake at 7:09 AM by the air raid warning siren. I heard at least one missile. It sounded like it hit the Krayot, Haifa’s surburbs.
That was confusing because the last news I had heard claimed there would be at 7:00 AM. So much for that. Then again, why am I confused? Yesterday, while talking about a cease-fire, 250 rockets hit Northern Israel. And on Haaretz, I just read that the cease-fire has been pushed back to 8 AM. Why not. Another, extra hour to squeeze in some more alarms.

While he waited for the noise to stop, Adrian, posting at about the same time, reflected on the questions that will occupy the country if the ceasefire holds:

I suppose the inevitable questions will start flying around, even more than the ones being asked already. Some crucial ones.

Did Israel win? Does the term ‘win or ‘lose have any meaning in this kind of war?
Who gets to pay for it all ? (I suspect I know the answer – we do)
Will the North of Israel recover to something like the pre war state?
Who will come out top in the so inevitable elections this year?
How did us bloggers do in general?
Did our very expensive Air Force do the business and will they be allowed to buy the JSF in a few years?
Was there another choice?
It’ll take a while before the answers come in.

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