2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday. June 24.1982
Deep anguish tinges nation's sense
By ROBERT ST. JOHN
TEL AVIV — Over the Sabbath (June 12), there was ecstasy everywhere. Tholisanuds of W^oisuen whose men had been called up were rejoicing that now, surely, they would return, and widi arms and legs intact.
or four of those five wars. Theie is hardly a family that has not lost someone in one of those Wars. The anguish multiplies. It accumulates. It piles up. It grows geometrically^
The papers day after day cany ■ display ads extending condolences to mother, and wife, the mishpacha of some pilot, parachutist, tank
Reporting diiccliy from Td Av|v,noted Ameriqui biographer Robert SL John, autiior off defidUnre Works on Da^Hd Bds-Gmion and Efiez«r Ben-Ydinda, c<mi|iaed bis hn|»csEsioiis of dhe mobd in tsraei at the end of the first week off fitting in Lebanon. His analysis is reprodoced from a dfapaidi fdeiieil to the iiUennountain Jewidt News, Denver, Ciriomdo.
AN ISRAEU ARMORED PERSONNEL^TARRIER pushes northirud put a Lebanese outpost doihig the early days df Opnation Ydice for GalDce^
There was fun-as-usual on the beaches, and the Dizengoff cafes were so crowded they overflowed into the streets. Everywtere titere seemed to be joie de vivre — the joy of just being alive.
And yet — Tve been observing and reporting wars since I went to France in 1917 — Work! War I, World War II, revolutions in the Balkans, civil wars in Latin America, and now five Arab-Israeli wars. 0viy here in Israel have I felt the anguish of war so keenly, even though Israel has always been the winner.
Also, this week I made a discovery: anguish, like certain poisons, is cumulative. Professional military men used to talk about the "value** on one war per generation. Bm five wars in 34 years. That's too many. The ai^uish accumulates too fast.
A boy of 17 who took part in the War of Independence in J948 was still a youngster of 25 wluh Israel joined France and Britain in the War of 1956. He was a relatively young man of 36 when the Six-Day War broke out. He was only 42 (still military material) when the Arabs attacked in 1973. And last week he was only 51 — still young enough to serve in some capacity.
Five wars in 34 years. Five wars in the adult life of a man now only 51.
Many Israelis have served in three
driver or foot soldier. At the funerals you      the anguish. Then back into hiding.
Jewish anguish is more intense than Christian anguish or Moslem anguish, for a good theological reason.
Cliristianity takes the sting out of death by emphasizing the joyful eternity awaiting anyone who truly believed. Islam sends even hardened criminals to a glorious reward in heaven if they die in a Jihad or holy war, which wars against Jews are declared to be.
Judaism, contrawise, emphasizes the importance of living, not dying, and so the anguish when a man is killed in battle is genuine.
That's why, in a cafe, a restaurant or on a park bench, you'll see now and then a man or woman sitting Staring into space. Some; if pressed, will talk and tell you what a line young lad he was, just at the start of a brilliant career, Some are very bitter, that it had to be.
(General Sharon has told us that 700 young Israelis had been killed or wounded. Not many? Add to that figure the 2,500 dead in the war nine years ago at Yom Kippur, and the dead, the hopelessly wounded, the crippled, the missing in all those other wars that most Israelis can remember and you have the sum total of the anguish — the price that was paid for the ecstasy.
The c6iiflict In Lebanon surveyed
Maariy columiiist Yaacoy Hael-yon: **Not about heroic battles of IDF soldiers do I wish to vmte, but of their adnurable conscience and-morali^. I hiaid feared, more than anything that we would become a hate-iidden amy, indiscriminately destrcr^ing diose in our way. But we are hot. We see soldiers v^o are fatiguedy shocked, pained. For many it was their first vrar. NIany of their friends were hurt. But despite this, there is almost no one Who doesnt consider the innocent people, whom the terrorists have forced into sharing their cruel gaimc. The IDF triumphs not just because of technology;
cause its soldiers are humane."
Danny Rifiin, 21-year-old soldier fighting near Tyre, observed: "I would sugg^t to all sikepticS back home to come up here and see the weapons and: munitions Which the terrorists have been preparing to use against our fainilies^ Maybe then they would t^k dififerehtly. For me it was proof that we are doing only what is right and necessary."
Dozens of seriously wounded l^eban^ dvilians have been evacuated by Israel Defence Force medical teams to hospitals in Israel. Seven patients were sent to Nahariya fpr kidney dialysis treatment. Local hpsjpitals in Tyre and Sidon were r^lKnled; ^bpe^^ again. Israeli medical teams were sent iiito Lebanon to reinforce^ local doctors. The Israel energy ministry is supplying fuel to residents.
Even before the military government officially took chai;^ of supr plying food in southern Lebanon, Israeli so^^ frequently shared their com^t rations with children and old .women from the refugee camps.
lovah Natah is an older Je^h
RICHARD DOFFMAN (centre), son-ln-iaw of a Vancoorcr icsidcBt, wasklDed hi the KccatfiiMiiigiatfbannw HelssBfwvedbyhiswifeandtwo-and-»te]firear^)ai-
fifteen years. Most of his immediate family including his pmnts went on atiyah and are liviiig in Ransai Can.
Vancouver sister-in4aw Kim Ross lauded the local Jewish National Fund shaliach Cbl. Yaen Veied for his special efforts in expediting Mis. Vickeii* sodden flight to Israel to be with her bereaved daughter.
Richard Dofiinan, the 23-year-old son-ih-law of Vancouver resident Sylvia Vickers, was reported killed in the reoentfif^tinginLebanon. He is survived by his wife of thict years Lesley and their two-and-a-half-year-ohl daughter, Tania Rachel.
A native of Birmingham, DdBf-man had lived in Isnwl for the past
''^^i'oi^kn:^She^^i^ in Tel Aviv until 1948 when she cbarried an Arab from Acre. Sinc^ then her whereabouts W^ unknown. When the IDF entered the Rashidiya camp in JLebanon there^he was, a Jewish woman who had followed her non-Jewish husband throu^ all his trials'^ and tribulatipiu^Her sister in Tel Aviv broke out crying when she learned about her laW a newspaper story.
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Israeli newspaper cdlumiiist Tehila Offer noted: **V/^pmcn in Israel are the only ones in the world who ate happy when husbands of over 50 years old are called up tP the
army. The wives of those not called up are living with frustrated men.**
School children all over Israel have been busy preparing ^t packages for fighting men as well as games for children of Kiryat Shmona. The IDF radio station has been taking calls from families with greeting messa^ for soldiers. Volunteer women are manning lines. Druse in the Golan Heights who support Israel have asked the Defense Ministry^ to be drafted to fight vritb ipi% and have been distributijig cakes and cold drinks to iD^^fiJIcrs in the Golan. '
A 71-year-oId American tourist, Helen Goldberg exclaimed in Galilee restaurant on the Lebanese border **We come to Israel every year. Despite the fighting, this is still safer than New York.**
A Lebanese woman, in a village near Nabatiah, the mother of eight,^ recalled: >The ibF entered the village, but didn*t shoot at civilians. Terrorists did. Thafs .how I was hurt, from a terrorist shell I was almost killed, Israeli doctors saved my life.**
The following directive was given by an IDF artillery officer to Israeli gun crews moving in on village areas: **If at all possible, avoid running over wheat fields with your vehicles."
A veteran IDF soldier, who has seen previous battles, and fought with ah Israeli unit in the north, observed: **I am full of admiration for the young generation of fighters today. I think they are even better educated, have greater skills, courage—and-^ resources than the previous generation."
A Galilee region settiement department office was set up to ^ve emergency aid to setdements along Israel's northembdrder and to help replace called-up settiers inessential farm work. ^
IDF medical t^ms in hdicoptecs and armored vehicles accompanied all combat units, each doctor and medic personally carrying medical equipment weighing 20 kilos on his :back. Attention was extended to the Lebanese civilian popuUitipn witha substantial number treated in hospitals Safed and Rambam in
Haifa. Rambam staff divided into two shifts working round the dock. Doctors are all senior staff sinoe the young junior doctors have been called up by the army.;
Aaron livni, an Israeli high school student in Holon vowed: '*I am going down to a Nahal settlement in the Nc^gev to replace the men called up. I made plans to have fun during the summer, but have no time for frivolous things now."
Christian Volunteers In the Golan Height^ . settlements remained throv^out the war period, saying ^ are goiiig^ stay here and work unless^ they tell us we must get but"
A mobile imit with 2^^^^^^ communjqtions liitts in Lebanon, so soldiers could call their families. Fbor mpre units^^^ scheduled to be installed. Communication ministiy staffers volunteered to contact thousands of families of soldiers. Staffeis locate the numbers with help of a computer and dial families directly.
An official certiGcate of USSR Ministry of Defence, was discovered on the person of a captured terrorist, Nazim Yusuf Al-Yusuf. The certificate stated he began a Russian army platoon annma^ course in the Soviet Union on Sept 1980 and completed it Jan. 81.-
The absorption centre in Neve Shaanan quarter <^ Haifa was opened up to, families from distant locations whose wotmded soklier sons were being tieated at nearby Rambam hospital
Said a senior official in Kiryat Shmona: "I hope Kiryat Shmona wiU no lonyger tfem^ ^ ^
place <^Sh^& but as a place for tourism and vacations^**
President Navbn commented on visiting ILirya^ during bpeiatibn   *Peaoe   1^^ Galilei-•T«ia^ is difift^^ always asked me, wJiatwiU in ^
end Con fntoit terrorist shelling). Today I jam feU you. Finally there is hope. This is the end.*