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Over the past two weeks before Pesach, on the days I went to the college, there were probably no more than ten of us working there. This morning I arrived at about 07:45 and there were already about 25 cars in the parking lot. Classes, which mostly resumed today, are still via Zoom rather than on campus, but many people were at their offices. Clearly, things had changed, or at least our feeling toward them had changed. Whether or not the present ceasefire holds (and it's very unclear that it will) the general feel was one of breathing more freely. On the kibbutz the chadar ochel was open for sitting for the first time in over a month and Tzippi reported that the atmosphere was almost festive.
To be clear, there's still a war raging in Lebanon, and there are still missiles being fired from Lebanon landing in Israel. Reports of missiles and where they're directed are shown in real time on the right side of the television screen, and throughout the evening we've seen these, though less frequently than last week. But the news also reported that Netanyahu has agreed to start direct negotiations with the Lebanese government next week. Israel could have done this long ago - the Lebanese government has said numerous times that it's interested in some sort of deal. Is this believable? Maybe not, but it certainly represents a better chance of getting out of our mess than once again occupying southern Lebanon. Our government, however, prefers force, and lots of it.
At present it seems that that preference is at odds with Trump's desire for things to quiet down (while still claiming total victory), and it looks as though Bibi will have to at least tone down the assault on Lebanon so that Trump can claim that victory.
FWIW, one positive development is a call put on by about 25 former heads of the army, the security forces, the police and more, warning that the Jewish terror and pogroms taking place in the west bank, backed by "irresponsible" ministers, and met with silence by the Prime Minister, is a danger to the security of Israel. It should be clear that almost all of these people are far from being leftists, and they'll most certainly be denounced as enemies of the state. What's more, the actual effect of this public statement will most probably be negligible. But it at least shows to whoever in Israel is willing to listen that our government is actively destroying Israel's future. And that's still something.
So is this the last installment from our war? Perhaps the first installment of our peace? (If it is, I promise not to send daily reports.) Maybe, and perhaps even probably, it's an interim report until things flash up again, though I certainly hope that's not the case.
It's now 01:15. I just got out of the shower and was about to add a closing sentence or two and send this when we heard two booms (now three). We haven't had an alert, but I checked my WhatsApp messages and a report of missiles in the Ashdod area (that's pretty much us) from Lebanon just came in. It sounded like Iron Dome interceptions which we haven't heard for quite a while. Tzippi has just decided that tonight we'll sleep in the safe room. I guess I'll send this now. One of the things we've learned during this war is that waiting for something to be over, whatever that means, before sending doesn't make sense. It's never really "over". We can open the news on Tzippi's laptop while we're in the safe room, but she prefers to simply go to sleep. She has a rehearsal this morning in the Tel Aviv area - the first in weeks - and wants to be prepared and awake for that. So, with that encouraging thought I guess I'll sign off, expecting that I'll be writing tomorrow as well. Sorry.
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