The Muqata - Katyusha Refugee Center

Exactly one year ago, we hosted friends of ours after they were evicted from their homes in Gush Katif. Having nowhere to go, we put them up for a bit, till they figured out which way to wander.

Today, we're very pleased to be hosting blogger friends of ours -- the Rock of Galilee family from up North. In this historic use of the JBlogosphere to connect Jews from around the world (well, from a Northern Settlement to the Muqatan Shomron Stronghold) -- we're pleased to present this dual hosted blog post. Over to you rock...

Watching a missile land on Haifa this morning as we fled from the constant bombardment of rockets on our galilean homeland I got to thinking about how fragile the situation can be no matter where you are living. When we lived in Michigan, we were concerned when the two airplanes hit the world trade center. My wife was very concerned about the threat of terrorism in the entire US and I explained to her that we were safest in Michigan. Michigan, for those who don't know, is the home to the largest arab population outside the middle east. My wife was positive that that meant that we were in more danger then anywhere else in the country. I explained to her that being in the Lion's den (quite literally in football terms) was actually beneficial to us because the FBI had most of their resources concentrated in our neighborhood. They wouldn't dare to do anything that would bring the full weight of countersurveillance into their living rooms.

In a similar vein we decided that the safest place during a Lebanese missile crisis would be in the Muqatan heartland, surrounded by hostile arabs. What better place to hide out and give our children a much deserved and needed rest without waking up every 5 minutes by the whoosh and the boom.

Back to you Jameel.

Jameel here. Wow...that was pretty inspiring to read (as it was being typed here in our Muqata bomb shelter)...and I just wanted to write how much we're enjoying the Rock of Galilee family's company -- we had a BBQ, and now the kids are nodding off to sleep. Granted the occasional shooting in the distance can be slight disconcerting, but it's nothing comapred to the whooosh and the boom. (And hopefully, we won't hear those either).

Well...I hope we can get together under slightly calmer circumstances next time, but overall, I think this is working out just fine.

A good night to all from the Muqata and Rock of Galilee (updates will be posted tonight as neccessary).

Jameel (The Muqata)
Rock of Galilee (Galilee Refugee)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael