In Other News...

Last week a suicide bomber killed three people in the Israeli city of Eilat. It was the first suicide bombing in Israel since last April. Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (the militant wing of the Fatah party), and a third previousy unknown group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Three days ago I was about to begin class at one of the local children's center, when a friend at the center told me the Israeli army was currenty camped at my apartment's front doorstep. This news was followed by a phone call from another friend warning me of the same, and one of the staff members of my host organization asking me to return to the main office immediately. The other volunteers and I were driven back home after the army left; later that evening we saw a splotch of bright red on the street as we walked to the local grocery store. They had come to take a wanted member of Islamic Jihad; he was wounded in the process, probably he fought back. I had wanted to teach the children how to sing 'head shoulders knees and toes'.

Two days ago in the early morning two al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members were killed in the old city area. The following day I saw their martyr posters being put up as I walked to a friend's house.

Last night I was awoken sometime after the muezzin made the morning call to prayer (around 5am). Gunshots, loud and nearby, sounded repeatedly from the window. Everytime they began again I slipped out of whatever warm, safe place consciousness goes between waking and slumber. It bothered me because I couldn't figure out why, after all this time, from the safety of my apartment bedroom, the sound of live arms fire gave me even the slightest fright.