August 8, 2006

Excerpted from an email from Orna Rayn, Upper Galil Coordinator, who has been living away from her home in Metula for almost three weeks. Shortly after this was sent, the Federation received word that the Israeli government was urging the evacuation of all the residents remaining in Northern Israel — 10,000 to 14,000 individuals — to safer areas of the country.

Meanwhile the situation in the region is getting worse every day. Today the government decided to “evacuate” 500 people from Kiryat Shmona. This is one little drop in the ocean. People can't stand the stress of living in the area anymore. More than 1,000 houses have been hit by katyushas in Kiryat Shmona. Among them were four kindergartens and two schools. The city looks destroyed. It is so sad to walk around and to talk to people. No on can bear to stay in the bomb shelters any longer.

Thinking of what is still ahead of us doesn’t make it any easier...

Excerpted from an email from Yoav Shoam, a member of the Israel & Overseas Committee, following his trip to the Upper Galil on Monday, August 7, 2006.

It was a particularly intense day, and the most deadly so far.

They’ve stopped counting rockets in Kiryat Shmona — there are too many. We were shut out of the town for much of the day, and spent it a few kilometers away in the situation room of the one of the five regional councils we support (Moata Ezorit Mevoot Hermon), hosted by Benny Ben-Muchtar, head of the Moatza. Orna Rayn joined after a little while, as did my friend Navah, who has been working throughout the Galil and collaborating with Orna in the past weeks. In the mid-afternoon, we went to Kiryat Shmona and first sat with Moyal, head of the regional office of the Soliders Support Organization (Havaad Lemaan Hachayal) in his makeshift headquarters in the Hatzafon hotel, which resembles an army transit depot right now, followed by a visit with the mayor in his dilapidated situation room.

The strain on the population is terrible. The social fabric, already tenuous in places such as Kiryat Shmona, is being torn apart.

Our geographic focus and local presence make a lot of sense, since they allow us to home in on the real needs and to ensure that the assistance provided actually reaches the destinations and does so quickly. Neither of these is true of most other organizations, however. As a result, this provides interesting partnership opportunities for us with organizations that have resources but not the insights on the ground.