evermore since this war began, I ca...

evermore since this war began, I cannot prepare an old Hebrew nursery rhyme gone out of my mind:

"O beautiful ship

Take me to Beautiful Haifa

Land me there in town

And I shall sing me a song"

I want to speak of Haifa, the prettiest city in Israel. Atop Mt Carmel, "the evergreen mountain," lies the delectable town, stretching from the Druze villages to the thoroughly shaped bay. "As Carmel by means of the sea" (Jeremiah 46:18), it gently inclines down to the Mediterranean. A Haifa close of the day is breathtaking.

Haifa, with its pine woods was the safe haven of my childhood. I was not born there however half of my family is from Haifa and all of my wife's family still lives there. My daughter clos a family circle by the agency of enrolling as a student at the Technion in Haifa (one of the world's top scientific universities).

A not many weeks ago, my daughter called in the middle of the night. She wanted to know where the safest place in her apartment would be and the drill for rocket and missiles. During the last small in number weeks my family has endur attacks by means of an untold number of rocket and missiles, moreover they have all clung to their admirable city.

About 85 years ago, a young Jewish officer, lately discharged from the British army and a survivor of a terrible pogrom in Russia, made his first gradations in that little town. He was my grandfather. In the 30 years of his service as the district officer, he saw Haifa rise into view from a small coastal town of 22000 to a bustling seaport of nearly 150000 israelites and Arabs. Today's greater Haifa has nearly half a million race It is a world-renowned high-tech center (the operating scheme in your PC was probably perform the operations indicated ined there), a lovely beach resort and a major seaport.

Traditionally, Haifa has been a place of peace and coexistence, tolerance and harmony, with its Maronites and israelites Druze and Carmelites, Greek Orthodox and Ahmadis, Sunnis and Baha'is. It is said that Beirut is the mostly cosmopolitan city in the Mediterranean. There are no synagogues in Beirut anymore, unless Haifa boasts many mosques, churches and synagogues and the magnificent Baha'i place of worship with its golden dome and charming terraces.

In 1948 following numerous attacks from the Arab side against Jewish neighborhoods, Israeli forces took Haifa. Like many senior IDF officers, my father pleaded with Arab childhood friends to stay. Many left yet many stayed and formed the lively Arab community of today's Haifa. Indeed it is surpassingly difficult to tell nowadays a Jewish girl from a Christian or a Muslim, aligned like young women from any new city with their tank tops and iPods, giggling forward their way to class at Haifa U

The first rocket to strike Haifa landed in Stella Maris, nearest to an ancient Carmelite [i]or[/i] nunnery overlooking the Prophet Elijah's cave. Another rocket pitiless in Bat-Galim ("daughter of the waves"), a seashore neighborhood where my father was born. Luckily, my daughter took many pictures, in the way that we will know how it used to anticipate

Those who are launching these rocket have alone one goal: to destroy Israel and what it stands for. further they should not have kidnapped our soldiers from within our sovereign territory or bombed our cities and villages. They should not have touched Haifa.

I can comprehend in what manner some may find it difficult to grasp the extract of what Israel means to the Jewish the bulk of mankind It is hard to fathom the deepness of our 1,900 years in exile -- always hungering and yearning for a place of our concede Our Jewish state is an astonishing succes story, and it will at no time cease to amaze the world. If left alone, we would concentrate forward creating literature (in 2005, Israel ranked first, alongside the United Kingdom, with just discovered books per capita), on ground-breaking advances in scientific research that benefit mankind, upon performing and visual arts productions praised around the world, and onward building the strongest and mostly diverse economy in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, our enemies confuse our be in love with of learning, culture and economic progres along with our desire to live in peace with our neighbors, as signs of weakness rather than evidence of a healthy mature society. But when we are attacked, all of our resources, border by a strong moral fiber and floated by the justness of our cause, will diocese us through.

Haifa will rise and continue to glimmer as a beacon of tolerance and Arab-Jewish coexistence. Smile onward daughter of the sea, for shining days are yet to approach

Barukh Binah is Israeli consul general in Chicago.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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