Hoping for Sanity By the Beach

September 5, 2006 - 2:52 PM by Allison

Like many other Israelis, Gavriel and his family managed to squeeze in a post-war visit to northern Israel before school started. And while they too, had a lot of fun in the Golan region — which was relatively unaffected he couldn’t help noticing the effects of the war.

While the war had little effect on our vacation, it was hard not to consider the effect it had on all of those who make their homes and earn their livings in the North. Sure, the Kinneret’s beaches were full and the zimmer occupancy high by the time we took our vacation; things seemed back to normal. But it was hard to ignore that almost the entirety of all that economic activity, the tourism-based life-blood of much of the region, was scatter-bombed out of commission for a full month. The restaurants, the hotels, the operators of the river rafting and the little mini-markets selling mega-SPF sunblock, all are struggling to recover from the loss of a huge chunk of their yearly income — not to mention those who suffered the misfortune of being hit by one of Nasrallah’s missiles. If you are considering a vacation in Israel anytime soon, you might consider spending some of your vacation shekels in Israel’s north, even if you hadn’t otherwise planned on it, as a way to help give their recovery a shot in the arm.

While I was only looking at the economic activity in the immediate area of our vacation, obviously there was also a vast impact in Lebanon as well from the war — damage, death and loss of important income for so many. To the innocent who’ve suffered on both sides of the border, this is a true tragedy. I know Israelis do not wish for such things, and would love nothing more than peace and quiet in which to pursue their lives and build an economy, and in which their neighbors can prosper as well. I know many Lebanese feel the same way, and I hope that as time passes and tempers cool, it will be these Lebanese whose voices are heard most loudly by Nasrallah when he starts to toy with ideas of what to do with the rest of his missiles, so he knows they won’t again tolerate his taking hostage the dreams of peace and prosperity of the very people he claims to care about — as well as my people, not that it matters.

Despite my cynical tone as I’ve been commenting on the international community’s vague efforts to make these problems — not to mention the even greater dangers of Iran’s looming nuclear power — just go away already, I maintain the hope that Lebanon and Israel and perhaps even others in the region will find a way to get along as neighbors. If only this latest war can be a similar wakeup call to a sane majority of Lebanese, in the way that Hariri’s assassination stoked the fires of Lebanese democracy. If only average Iranians can recognize this tiniest hint of the greater future martyrdom Ahmadinejad has planned for them, and take back their country before Mr. A. realizes his dream of using them like a national suicide bomb — and, not coincidentally, blowing my family up along with them.

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