Unrest Near Gaza

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We spent time at the Black Arrow memorial today…. It is a memorial for Israeli paratroopers killed in 1953.    It sits on a hill that overlooks the valley that is between Israel and Gaza.  It is about a mile from the actual border. (I forgot to put my card in my camera so I have no picture to post. However, an Israeli soldier named  Libby Weiss from Lake Oswego joined us and she took pics for me.  I'll post them later.) While we were there talking to an army captain, we heard a couple of loud booms off in the distance.  It was cloudy and the sound seemed like it could have been really loud thunder …..I asked the captain who didn’t even flinch and he said he thought it was a sonic boom. 

Later we drove along the border to the south and one of two major checkpoints or passage ways into Gaza.  It was here I saw black smoke in the sky off in the distance.  I still didn’t put it together but when we went to Be’er Sheeva….a large city not far from the border we learned that two Palestinians were trying to plant a bomb along the fence of the Gaza border and were hit by Israeli air forces.  What we heard was the detonating of the bomb by the strike.  Palestinian medical officials said one man was killed at the scene and a second man later died of his wounds.  The fence has been targeted a couple of times this year already.

We drove  further south along the border of Israel, Gaza and Egypt.  We saw the place where Gilad Shalit…the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped and taken into a tunnel and into Hamas 5 years ago.  He is like a local folk hero.  People still follow his every move since he returned.  He is about to undergo surgery again to remove shrapnel in his body.  He also just signed up on Facebook which was mentioned in the local newspaper.

On our way down, we also saw a Brigadier General from Washington DC…he’s there touring the area in uniform and having talks with the Israeli government about Iran. …that was strange to see.  We also just heard that the Joint Chief of Staff is here visiting the Israeli Govt.  He flew in today.

More to come! 

Tags: Israel; Gaza; bomb