EVA FLOERSHEIM
LIVING IN ISRAEL
- Claude
Claude Knopf, 29, was killed by the terrorist sitting next to him in a public taxi – a sherut – yesterday, Thursday, March 1, 2001.
* * *
I live in the Galilee, in a little village between Afula and Tiberias. Sometimes when I go to Tel Aviv or come back from there, I use a sherut – a public taxi which these days usually take 10 passengers. The price is more or less the same as taking the bus, sometimes even cheaper.
Some of the taxi drivers tell you stories, keep a conversation with the passengers, even serve you coffee. The chairs are not as comfortable as the bus but often the atmosphere in the taxi makes up for it. And if you have waited for your bus for some time, you are quite happy to take the taxi instead.
When the sherut is not full, the driver will pick up additional passengers on the way, and give a ride to those going shorter distances than his final destination Tiberias.
Sometimes a passenger gets off in Wadi Ara. Sometimes another takes his place. People in Wadi Ara belong to our regional hospital in Afula. Perhaps the passenger is going to buy something in Afula or up in Nazareth.
Last time I took such a sherut was perhaps a month ago. We were a mixed bunch of Jews and Arabs, men and women, religious and non-religious persons.
The sherut uses the same route as the bus. Coming from Tel Aviv,
it passes Herzliyah, Natanyah, and Hadera and then turns off the Coastal Road in
the direction of north east, towards Afula. This is the major road going up to
Tiberias, Kiryat Shomeh. At some point it enters Wadi Ara, Nachal Iron in
Hebrew, a stretch with many Arab villages on both sides of the road. Last autumn
this was often a problematic road, with violent demonstrations. Traffic lights
were completely destroyed. Stones were thrown at cars. There were days when I,
and many others, decided not to use this main road, but did a long detour to
avoid the problems.
* * *
The passengers in the sherut were the usual mixed bunch:
- Claude,
- A young girl of 16 from Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek,
- Three Arabs from the West Bank, from what is now under Palestinian rule,
- One lady from one of our neighboring villages,
- Probably some Jews from Afula or Tiberias,
- The driver was a Jewish man from Tiberias.
Claude was not alone. He had brought along the dog he was training. The German shepherd was soon to be given to a blind person. Claude had put all his love into training this dog to help a blind person become as self-sufficient and independent as possible. I can see the dog next to Claude’s feet in the sherut, occasionally looking up at Claude with Claude patting him on the head.
In the middle of Wadi Ara the sherut was stopped by the police. For the innocent driver and the innocent passengers, it seemed like a routine check of their identity papers. But not so for one man: at that moment the terrorist detonated his explosives.
Claude was killed. The 16 year old girl was seriously wounded. The lady from our neighboring village was wounded. The terrorist was wounded. The main road through Wadi Ara was instantly blocked.
The ambulances had difficulties with getting through. But it was too late for Claude. He was dead. The dog he had trained with so much love, was seriously wounded. The special collar with the words "Dog in training" was still around its neck. A veterinarian was called in. He is now trying to save the dog.
I will remember you, Claude. I will remember you and your
compassion for training a dog to help the blind.
PS 1. It seems that the bomb that detonated the day before was a
"present" from the same terrorist. This second bomb that went off in
the sherut was destined for Afula. Afula has suffered several terrorist attacks
in the past. A car bomb was detonated in front of an Egged bus on the Holocaust
Day some years ago killing several persons, among them the thirteen year old
grandchild of our neighbor. A female soldier was axed to death in front of the
police station some years ago. For me Afula is also the quiet little town where
I use to go for shopping.
PS 2.
It is now one month later in April 2001. A small article in the
newspaper tells us that the German shepherd Claude trained, is now out of
danger, still recuperating, and was given to Claude's family to keep.
Eva Floersheim
March 2, 2001
- Afula and Benjamina
on a Wednesday and a Monday
Afula is a little town of around 45,000 in the Yizrael Valley in Northern Israel. It was founded in 1925 by Jewish settlers.
Benjamina is originally a moshava, now a townlet of perhaps five thousand people, a little north of Hadera. It was founded by Jewish settlers around 1922.
Both places are well inside "the green borders", i.e. the borders Israel had before 1967.
My husband runs a dairy farm in the Lower Galilee and once every six months it is our turn to bring the monthly milk checks for testing at a laboratory in Caesarea, just north of Hadera. We bring sets of small bottles with samples from each cow from six different farms in our village. We usually try to combine these trips with some social visits.
On July 11, 2001 our turn had come to once again go to Caesarea. Just before setting out at around 10:30 am, my friend Erela told me on the phone that there had been a terrorist attack in Afula, so we might have trouble getting through the town on our way south. Indeed, having reached Afula, we found that all traffic had been redirected through the outskirts of the town. Policemen were seen along the sealed off streets.
It later turned out that a young man of 17 from the West Bank had managed to get to Afula despite the fact that without a permit no one is allowed to pass from the areas held by the Palestinian authorities into Israel.
He had walked through the center of Afula, carrying a bag.
Afula is the town I do my shopping, so I knew the route he took very well. He had walked from the Egged bus station towards the center, passing Afula's famous felafel stands, crossing the Piazza and walking towards the west, passing my son's barber; a popular pizza place; the pharmacy I often use; passing a kindergarten located in one of Afula's first houses. He then reached HaBank HaBenleumi offices.
Three policemen observed him and – luckily for the rest of us – decided it was time to take action. When they ran after him in the direction of a memorial (made after another terrorist detonated a car in front of a bus, killing seven), he screamed at them that his bag was bobby trapped. Despite this, the three men caught him and pinned him down before he managed to detonate the bomb in his bag. A miracle for all involved.
I guess you never heard about this in the international news. You may probably have heard a lot, had he succeeded...
On that Wednesday morning, from Afula we went south, eventually dropping off the milk samples at Caesarea.
And now it was time for the social part: we were going to visit my friend Dalia who, a few years ago, settled in Benjamina, with her husband and two daughters. She has recently moved into a new beautiful house. I had seen it during my visit to her last May, so I easily directed my husband through Benjamina. We spent together a few pleasant hours in her company. Leaving with her a bottle of our own olive oil and receiving a bag of homegrown tomatoes from her front garden, we left around four o'clock in the afternoon. On the way out of Benjamina I showed my husband the cozy little railway station. We planned, in the near future, to drive to Benjamina, park the car and take the train to Beer Sheva to visit my husband's cousin who came from Albania in 1991.
Despite the near catastrophe in Afula, it was a pleasant day for us.
The next weekend went by, and on Monday evening, on the radio came a terrible news: There had been a terrorist attack in Benjamina, next to the railway station.
In this case another man from an organization called the Islamic Jihad on the West Bank stood at the bus stop right opposite the railway station, mingling with those waiting for the bus. Then, he detonated the 20 kilos of explosives he carried on his body, killing himself and two of those standing next to him: an 18 year old girl named Chanit Arami and a 19 year old boy named Avi Ben Harush. Both Chanit and Avi were soldiers. Seven more were wounded.
Our own son will soon be 20 years old. He is also a soldier.
I imagine that for many living abroad, a soldier is some kind of a trained killing machine. Having lived in Israel permanently since 1969, during those years, I have met very many soldiers, because most of those I know, men and women, served in the Israeli army. However, I have not met anybody fitting the killing machine image. In fact, the only comfort I can find in the situation of military confrontation, is knowing that our army consists of my son and his friends, normal kids grown up without having learned to hate the other side blindly; without having learned that to walk into a civilian gathering with explosives you detonate on your body, is heroism. For me, blowing yourself up in the midst of a group of human beings, is the act of a brainwashed hate ridden young fool who could have used his talents in a constructive way for himself, his family and his people. A total waste of God's gifts.
Afula and Benjamina are, as I said earlier, within the borders
of 1967. Attacking those two places show that for the terrorists among the
Palestinians, there is no difference between what you hear named "occupied
territories" and what is the State of Israel. Being on the left part of the
political map, that makes me very pessimistic for any agreement with the
Palestinian authority.
Eva Floersheim
July 2001
- Lost lives on a pile of newspapers
Every morning around six o'clock the newspaper is delivered to our door. Sometimes I know what the headlines will be before even fetch it. Often the day before, the evening before, the night before - there was a new terrorist attack. Now, the next morning, the newspaper would give us more details of what had happened and who the victims were.
Today, I am throwing out a big pile of old newspapers. Taking each one in my hand, I once more look at the photos of those who are now longer here. I would like to tell you about some of them.
- Chaviv Ochana is a farmer. He and his wife Miri had four
children. Their oldest daughter Michal is a student at the university, the son
Oded is doing his military service and the son Joni is studying at a boarding
school in Jerusalem. The fourth child, Yael, 11 years old, was born handicapped
and could not speak. The mother took good care of all of her children, but was
particularly close to Yael.
On Wednesday afternoon February 6, 2002 , Chaviv
Ochana had gone to town to do some shopping. Yael and her mother stayed at home
alone.
Several terrorists broke into their village, one of them into their home. This terrorist shot and killed Miri and Yael in their home.
Moshe Mekonen, 33 years old, originally from Ethiopia, was doing his yearly reserve duty, guarding their village. He had just talked to his wife on the phone, asking if their two daughters, 4 and 2 years old, were OK. When the terrorist attack started he was also killed.
Blessed be the memory of Miri and Yael Ochana.
Blessed be the memory of Moshe Mekonen.
- Pinchas Toktali was 80 years old but in excellent shape. A week
earlier he had competed with his grandson – bicycling without using hands.
Pinchas also had a good friend from the time they both went to elementary school
in Jerusalem. Now the two of them had observed how they had managed to get to
the age of eighty, despite the turbulent history of this country. This day,
January 27, 2002, Pinchas had just finished his art class and was on
his way to buy some more paints. Right next to him, on Jaffo Street in the
center of Jerusalem, a woman of 27 had an "accident at work". She had been
sent from Ramallah, as a nurse in a Red Crescent ambulance, with a little
mission: to plant a bomb in the center of Jerusalem and come back to Ramallah.
The bomb, however, went off "too early" while still on the female
terrorist's body. Pinchas Toktali was killed instantly. Nearly 200 other were
wounded.
Blessed be the memory of Pinchas Toktali.
- On January 17, 2002, Nina, twelve years old, was celebrating her
Bat Mitzvah party in grand style at "David's Palace". The family had
come from the Caucasus Mountains to Israel in 1991, so most of the hundreds of
relatives and friends were also Caucasian Jews. A band was performing – one of
the singers was Aharon Ben Israel, the first to be born in Israel of a group of
black Americans who claim they are Jews and who now mostly live in Dimona in the
Negev desert.
Avi Jazdi had married the daughter of the owner of "David's Palace" on September 11, 2001, and they celebrated their wedding there. He was a bank clerk. To help out at the family business he had come that evening to work as a security guard at the entrance.
At 22:50, a terrorist entered the "David's Palace", shot Avi Jazdi at the entrance, and then continued shooting wildly at the guests sitting around the many tables and enjoying the food and the entertainment. When he had to stop shooting to reload his M-16, the guests attacked him with the chairs and bottles. The attack was over – leaving six dead and 34 wounded.
- Nina's grandfather, Edward Bakshiew, was killed.
- Edward's cousin, Anatoly Bakshiew, was killed.
- Aharon Ben Israel threw himself on one of the band's female singers and saved her life. He himself was killed.
- Boris Molichov, 56, and Dinur Baneyew, 48, the guests, were both killed.
Blessed be the memory of Edward Bakshiew.
Blessed be the memory of Anatoly Bakshiew.
Blessed be the memory of Aharon Ben Israel.
Blessed be the memory of Boris Molichov.
Blessed be the memory of Dinur Baneyew.
Blessed be the memory of Avi Jazdi.
- On January 15, 2002, Joela Chen, 45, had decided to go to a
family wedding, and on the way picked up her 70 year old aunt. Her husband
stayed at home looking after their two children.
When Joela stopped for a moment at a road crossing, two young men approached the car and asked if she was Jewish. When she answered "Yes", the two instantly opened fire, killing Joela and wounding her aunt.
Blessed be the memory of Joela Chen.
* * *
So many lives have been tragically changed by the events recorded in these newspapers. The lives of some directly because those killed and wounded were their relatives or friends. The lives of most of us indirectly because those events influence our decisions and opinions.
- Will I or my relatives or my friends become victims in a future terrorist attack?
- How do you fight terrorism without becoming a terrorist yourself?
- How to keep the hope alive that one day life will be more normal in this country?
Eva Floersheim
February 9, 2002
- The "heroism" of killing chess players
The first time there was a terrorist attack in Rishon LeZion a few weeks ago, the media in Norway only said that it happened "in a place near Tel Aviv".
This "place", Rishon LeZion, is a city of about 220 000 people. It was founded in 1882 and became a town in 1950. It has a well-known vinery. These days Rishon LeZion ("First to Zion" in translation) is a big modern city where many of the new immigrants from the former Soviet Union have settled. In fact, for the last ten years, 30 000 immigrants have made Rishon LeZion their home. Now and then, when I pass the city by bus, I can see how many of the shop signs are both in Hebrew and Russian.
Until two days ago, I did not know that in the center of Rishon LeZion, the immigrants from the Soviet Union had established a special link to their former life. In the evenings, when it cools down, they meet in one of the city's central park. Tables and chairs enable those who come, mostly elderly men, to play chess and what we call Sheshbesh – backgammon, in English. Sometimes youngsters would join them too. I can imagine the conversations accompanying these games, all in Russian. I can imagine the friendship bonds forming over these tables.
Tuesday night, May 22, 2002, around thirty chess players were there. It was just after nine o'clock in the evening. A car stopped near-by and a 16 year-old boy with bleached hair stepped out of it, walked up to the chess players and blew himself to pieces.
The explosion was terrible.
Those who came running to help saw mostly elderly men lying on the pavement seriously wounded. "It was awful to look [at them] and listen [to the screams]", said one of these helpers.
More than thirty persons were wounded.
Three were killed.
- Viktor Tatrinov was 63 years old. He was even not Jewish. He had
been married to a Jewish woman and came with her to Israel. His mother, now 90
years old, had stayed in Russia, in a little town on the coast of the Black Sea.
Three years ago Viktor and his wife had divorced in Israel, so recently he lived
on his own.
- Gary Tasniewski was 65 years old. During World War Two he hid in
an apartment in Odessa for four years with his mother and thus they survived the
Holocaust. Gary was married to Nina. Their daughter Angela, her husband and
children had immigrated to Israel first. Three years ago Gary and Nina decided
to join them in Israel. The family members were very close. This evening Angela and
her daughter had been standing next to Gary as he was playing chess. They had
just said goodbye to him and hardly left the area when the explosion took place.
Gary was killed instantly.
- Elmer Dzebrailov was 16 years old. Elmer immigrated from Azberizjan to Israel five years ago. His father had been killed earlier, in a car accident in Azberizjan. His mother Karina, sister Elmira and the grandparents Michael and Julia came together to Israel and settled in Rishon LeZion. Elmer studied at the technological school of Naamat in Rishon LeZion. He must have enjoyed playing chess and the company of the elderly men in the park.
* * *
However, if one person walks up to a group of other persons whom he does not know at all and who are peacefully engaged in their everyday activities, and then he or she blows himself/herself up, killing and wounding those he/she does not even know – it is completely beyond my comprehension.
Killing a group of chess players is beyond my understanding.
PS. The names of the victims have been translated from Hebrew.
The victims themselves may have spelled their names differently in Latin
letters.
Eva Floersheim
May 25, 2002
- Megiddo Junction June 5, 2002
Around five o'clock this morning I woke up the first time; fell asleep and then woke up again at 7:15 am. I did not know that at that very moment a big explosion took the lives of at least 16 people traveling on a bus, and wounded more than 30.
Approximately, 30 km south of where I live, a car with
explosives had driven behind one of the buses I often use – the No. 830, from
Tel Aviv to Tiberias – and, just at the Megiddo junction, the driver had blown
himself and the car. This made the bus explode and catch fire. What I saw on TV
was a completely burnt-out bus. Dead bodies were being carried on stretchers,
covered in white cloth.
* * *
Today Megiddo is a TEL – an artificial hill made of twenty layers of settlements built and destroyed over the period of at least three thousand five hundred years. Many historical battles were fought at this site. Some Christians believe that the final battle to end all war – the Battle of Armageddon – will happen here.
In 1925, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago started their excavations of Tel Megiddo. Many of the treasures found at Megiddo can now be seen at the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem. It is an incredible experiences to walk through a 120 meter-long tunnel dug by King Ahab 2800 years ago – the tunnel that enabled those living in the fortified city of Megiddo to reach a well that was situated outside the city walls. That way in times of war, those living inside the walls could still get their water from this well without being seen by the enemy.
In 1970, I stood on the Tel Megiddo with my mother who had come from Norway for her first visit. Under us, looking west, north and east over the Valley of Yizrael, we saw a huge flock of storks. It seemed quite magical to see so many storks at one time. My mother said to me: "I guess, the storks are bringing babies to this part of Israel". On the other side of the Yizrael Valley we could see the town of Afula and the Moreh Hills (515 meters above sea level), and a little to the northwest - the Nazareth Hills (470-570 m) with the town of Nazareth. In between, but more to the north, we could see the Tabor mountain (562 m). The distances are very short – Megiddo to Afula ca. 14 km, Megiddo to Nazareth ca. 20 km and Megiddo to Tabor ca. 30 km.
A few years ago, the son of my friends married his sweetheart on Tel Megiddo, celebrating the wedding party in the restaurant on these historic grounds.
Just behind Tel Megiddo is the Kibbutz Megiddo, a kibbutz founded in 1949 by Holocaust survivors. Later, more immigrants from South America joined this kibbutz. Several years ago our friends from Germany and Switzerland worked as volunteers in the kibbutz's cowshed. We visited them a few times.
To the south, behind the kibbutz starts a huge planted fir forest – the Megiddo Forest that covers part of the Menashe Hills. Some years ago a young couple from Haifa made a romantic trip to the entrance of this forest. There, they were murdered by an Israeli Arab.
Not far from the Tel itself is the Megiddo Junction. Next to the junction there is a small eucalyptus grove with tall trees. Next to the trees you can still see the remains of what once was a British army base. When the British troops invaded the northern part of this country in 1918, they came from the south through the Megiddo Pass. Their commander-in-chief, General Allenby, was later made a Peer and took the title Lord Allenby of Megiddo. The junction was important during the British Mandate (1918-1948); controlling the traffic south-north (Hadera-Afula-Tiberias) and west-east (Haifa-Jenin).
On the other side of the road there is now a huge prison – the Megiddo prison, where many terrorists are incarcerated.
Around the junction there are four bus stops:
- if you are traveling to Afula, Tiberias or Kiryat Shmona – you stand on the northern bus stop;
- if you are traveling to Hadera, Natanya and Tel Aviv – you stand on the southern bus stop;
- if you are traveling to Mishmar Haemek, Yokneam and Haifa – you stand on the western bus stop;
- if you are traveling to Jenin – you stand on the eastern bus stop.
* * *
This morning, June 5, 2002, at 5:50 am the bus No. 830 left Tel Aviv for Tiberias. Usually, many soldiers take this bus as it brings them to their army bases early. I can imagine people getting on the bus in Tel Aviv, Herzliyah, Natanya and Hadera. Some may have intended to get off at the Megiddo Junction, others were certainly going to Afula, the Golani Junction and Tiberias. Perhaps some of them were going to Kfar Tabor, close-by to where I live.
Another bus, No. 823, going from Tel Aviv to Nazareth, was following the No. 830, just as they were approaching the Megiddo Tunction. The 823 carried fewer passengers compared to the 830.
A car loaded with the explosives drove the same route the buses took: from south to north. At the junction this car drove up just behind the more crowded bus and car’s driver detonated the explosives.
At the moment the news are talking about at least 16 persons killed - mostly soldiers, and more than 30 wounded; many of them seriously.
Tonight and tomorrow we will find from the TV news and the newspapers, who were killed and wounded, and which families will now have to cope with the aftermath of this attack.
Do we know any of them? We still don't know.
PS. Later it turned out that 17 persons were killed
in this attack. Out of those, sixteen were identified. The seventeenth person,
a Hebrew speaking Jewish man, has not been "claimed" by anyone till
now, November 2002. How is it possible that nobody misses this man?
Eva Floersheim
June 5, 2002
- Megiddo
Seen on TV tonight:
Anton is 25 years old. He came to Israel from the former Soviet Union two years ago, fell in love with the country and stayed as a new immigrant.
His mother and aunt, his only close relatives, did not know what to do. Should they too pick up their things and leave their homes and come to a new country with a new language just to be near their beloved Anton?
In the meantime Anton had gotten a girlfriend here in Israel, and he continued to put pressure on his mother and aunt to join him. His mother came once for a visit and traveled around the country, "Though I haven't been in the south and I haven't been to the Dead Sea yet", she said.
Finally the decision was made and last night Anton's mother and aunt arrived at the Ben Gurion airport. Anton and his girlfriend were there to meet them. Together they went to Tel Aviv to take the first bus northwards to Anton's apartment in Tiberias.
As the bus approached the Megiddo Junction the driver in the private car behind the bus detonated around 100 kg of explosives, causing the bus to explode, turn over twice, catch fire and totally burn out.
Anton, his girl friend, his mother and aunt were among the survivors and are now hospitalized at the Haemek Hospital in Afula.
His mother still wants to be with Anton. "We are such a small family. We must stay together", she said on TV. "Anyway, all the clothes, money and documents went up in fire".
And Anton? Walking from his aunt to his mother in the hospital,
himself wounded, he still seemed to be optimistic about life in Israel.
Eva Floersheim
June 5, 2002
- It can be fatal to fall asleep on the bus
Sergei Sevchuk, 35, lived in Afula with his wife and young son. He had come to Israel from the Ukraine, and may have actually been a Ukrainian married to a Jewish girl. His son is celebrating his 7th birthday today. But it is a very sad birthday.
On Monday, three days ago, Sergei had finished his job and was returning home by bus. His work was in Tiberias, so he took bus No. 841 going to Afula. The trip usually takes about an hour.
But Sergei was tired and fell asleep on the bus. He was so tired he did not wake up in Afula, but kept on sleeping as the bus went southward. He slept for at least another thirty or forty minutes after the bus had left the Afula bus station and continued in the direction of Hadera and Tel Aviv.
Until a car full of explosives and driven by a terrorist blew up right next to the bus. The bus exploded too, and a horrible fire broke out.
14 persons were killed, and 52 wounded. The fire was so fierce; it was a difficult task to identify the bodies.
Sergei's body has now been identified.
- He fell asleep and did not get off the bus in Afula.
- His son, only seven years old, lost his father in a meaningless
terrorist attack.
- It can be fatal to fall asleep on the bus.
Eva Floersheim
October 24, 2002
Eva Floersheim, born 1950 in Sweden, grown up in Norway, lives in Israel since 1969. In the last two years she wrote a few stories on the present life in Israel for friends and relatives abroad trying to bring the news down to a more personal level.
Her sister with family lives in Poland.
Some of those who read about the tree in the Lubaczow Jewish cemetery may like to read more about this subject on my website:
- About my visit to Lubaczow in the spring of 2002:
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lubaczow/JewishCemetery.htm– this document includes a panorama of the cemetery and explainations for some of the main decorations on the gravestones.
- From some of the gravestones photographed by Howard Bodenstein I
made another Acrobat document giving the Hebrew text and the
translation of the inscriptions on those gravestones.
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lubaczow/transtut.htm - Before I went to Lubaczow I had made a Beginner's Tutorial. It may also be
helpful as it contains some Hebrew texts in the Acrobat document, and could
perhaps help those wanting to visit Jewish cemeteries where they live.
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lubaczow/bgntut.htm
Eva Floersheim
