Cease Fire?

This war was an horrendous experience, right up to the bitter end. At 6:45 this morning, just 1/4 hour before the cease fire was to go into effect, I smelled a waft of gas.

That happens for one of two reasons. Either one of the jets is slightly open on my stove, or, much more frequently, the gas truck has been sent and they are filling the gas tanks of the building.

I checked the gas jets on my stove. They were closed properly. So, I felt a moment's relief that the gas is just being refilled.

Then the siren went off.

The thought that a rocket might fall anywhere in our vicinity at that moment when the gas truck's hose was fitted into our building's main gas line sent me into another wave of shock/fear.

The only comfort was that I was alone in the house. If the building blew no one else in the family would be harmed.

Nothing happened. There was no barrage that I could hear, see, feel or smell. It was one of those sirens that go of "by mistake" that are at once so relieving and so infuriating because they scare the hell out of you for no reason.

I want this to be over desperately. I hope it is over. I've had as much as my nerves can take, but I know that so long as Hezbullah is not disarmed it's not over.

I hope that we can hunt down the heads of the organization and arrange their 72 virgins for them without another one of our soldiers or civilians being lost.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com