From the Front Line -13

Sent: Thursday, 27 July, 2006 6:44
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: [eejh] Fw: From the Front Line -13

Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 2:22 PM
Subject: From the Front Line -13

Friends,

Yesterday was not a good day for Israel. The soldiers killed and wounded at
Bint Jbail is hard to bear. There was an ambush just like the battle in
Jenin in 2002 and because we try to save civilian lives, our boys get
killed.

Bint Jbail is not a hill with a platoon of terrorists; it is a town of
40,000 inhabitants with a huge arsenal of highly sophisticated weaponry
stored under their houses Israel dropped messages to all the inhabitants to
get out but they were held at gunpoint to stay and protect the lives of
their leaders making our entry so much more difficult. We are fighting a
highly trained, very clever enemy that has no red lines; it will take time
and cost lives. This is a very real war. A Hizbollah cleric stated quite
clearly that "we can beat Zionists because we love death and they love
life".

It was reported in the paper yesterday that "Military intelligence has
dossiers on 170 towns and villages that serve as Hizbollah strongholds
throughout Southern Lebanon. The dossiers include details and maps on the
number of fighters, their firing positions, fortifications and underground
bunkers and quantities of arms..... their (Hizbollah) defense structure is
based on fighting from within the villages.."

Consequently, I am sure that most of the "civilian" buildings destroyed,
that are capturing the world headlines will have bunkers and arms stored
underneath. But just like the Pallywood productions of the Palestinians,
Hizbollah is manufacturing "news" for foreign viewers and large news
networks gobble it up and regurgitate it, becoming in effect, branches of
Hizbollah's "El Manar" television. CNN correspondent Robertson admits:

"And I think as we try and do our job, which is go out and see what's
happened to the best of our ability, clearly, in that environment, in the
southern suburbs of Beirut that Hizbollah controls, the only way we can get
into those areas is with a Hizbollah escort. And absolutely, when you hear
their claims they have to come with more than a grain of salt, so you have
to put in some journalistic integrity. You have to point out to the audience

and let them know that this was a guided tour by Hizbollah press officials
along with their security, that it was a very rushed affair, that there
wasn't time to go and look through those buildings."
"The audience has to know the conditions of that tour. But again, we could
not get access to those areas without Hizbollah compliance, they control
those areas."

The Israeli citizens are doing a sterling job in helping the brethren in so
many ways. We will be spending the weekend with our son and his family in
Bet Shemesh and we have been told that a big meal is being sponsored by the

community in a school for all the families from the north that are being
hosted by Bet Shemesh families. Of course Hadassah/Hasja can't go empty
handed, so she is now in the kitchen cooking Lasagne for the meal..

Every day in the newspaper, there is a section advertising those families in

the "safe" parts of the country who are prepared to host families from the
north. Special events are being organized for children and toys that have
been donated are being distributed to the shelters. An organization called
Latet who prepare emergency food packages and distribute to those stuck in
the shelters in the north and Yad Sarah who are distributing essential
medical supplies.There are many other groups all pitching in to help their
fellow countrymen in whatever way they can.

I hope this spirit of togetherness gathers strength and continues after this

is all over.. The country is really united, at this moment but of course
there are still those that know better than everyone else - this is Israel,
after all. As friend quoted in her daily letter :- Q. Why don't Israeli's
make love in the street? A. Because everyone would tell them how to do it
better!

Stuart