Under Fire, part 15

My City: Ever wonder what Karmiel (alternately—and incorrecty—spelled Carmiel in various news sources) looks like? Check out the city's website. You don't need to read Hebrew to appreciate the lovely images. See that serious-looking fellow staring out at you? That is our mayor, Adi Aldar.

The city was founded in 1964. Some of the original residents were immigrants from Argentina, and to this day there are still a few neighborhoods where you can hear Spanish. In addition to South American, our residents hail from Uzbekistan, Khazakstan, Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Ethiopia, India, and all over Europe. There are a few of us "anglos" (immigrants from English-speaking countries, such as England, Australia, and the US), and a fair share of those who relocated from the hustle and bustle of the Tel Aviv area. The city is amazingly diverse, friendly, attractive, and charming. It isn't surprising that we have won a number of awards as Israel's cleanest city.

We are perched on a hilly area in the middle of the galil (Galilee). At about 50,000 residents, this is the largest city in the immediate area. We are surrounded by craggy hills, dusty olive groves, and many smaller communities: villages, moshavim, kibbutzim, mitzpayim, yeshuvim, etc. This part of the Galilee is about 50% Arab: these are Israel Arabs, not Palestinians. Villages are usually either Moslem, Druze, or Christian, though a few (including Rama, right down the road from us) are mixed. They work with us, shop with us, vote with us, serve in the army with us, and yes, right now they are getting hit by rockets with us.

So now our peaceful little city, and all the peaceful little communities around us, are being blasted by rockets fired from across the border in Lebanon. The sirens are now going off for what must be the tenth time today, and we've had more strikes in Karmiel.

I can only hope that this will end soon, and that many of you can come and visit and see for yourselves what a beautiful spot this is.