Now, a quarter of a century later, Israel nears its 50th anniversary (next year in 1998) and I have been in this country more than half of those years! I found shelter during the Yom Kippur war, experienced the joy of the Entebbe rescue, suffered with my countrymen after the tragedies of Munich, Maalot and Kiryat Shmona. I wore a gas mask as Scud rockets flew over my head and I heard the roar of Patriot missiles sent up from Tel Aviv to intercept them.
In twenty-five years I have helped to build Israel. I served in the Israel Defense Forces, though in a relatively minor position. I helped establish a new kibbutz in Israel's southern Arava valley, and my sweat and efforts were rewarded as vegetables grew ripe in desert sands. I joined a moshav settlement outside of Jerusalem, eventually serving as the community's general secretary.
It has been an eventful twenty-five years, full of surprises, of anguish and hope. Peace has come, at least partially. I remember serving in my army base on full alert seeing Sadat's jet in the sky as he began his historic visit. I remember the joy of seeing King Hussein finally recognize my country. I remember the trepidation I felt when Yitzhak Rabin shook Yasser Arafat's hand for the first time. And I remember the horror when the television news broke the story of Rabin's assasination.
I have become a part of Israel, of its past and its future. While I still, to this day, retain my American citizenship (I have gone back to visit the States three times over 25 years), I am an Israeli, through and through. I am raising three sabras, three children born on Israeli soil.
There is still plenty of promise in the Promised Land. Now, as I celebrate my special twenty- fifth anniversary of that eventful day in Haifa port, and as Israel nears its Independence Day celebrations in just ten days' time, I still have hope to a better future. While total peace alludes us today, I do believe that there will come a day when Israel has peace with its neighbors.
March 1997 edition - THE HELICOPTER CRASH THAT BROUGHT GRIEF TO AN ENTIRE COUNTRY
Also read the January 1997 edition of The Shuman News.
You can read the October 1996 edition of The Shuman News.