This has been quite the week to be in Israel. While it cannot be called a full out war, probably the best way describe what is going on now is as an intense, armed conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.

The fighting is continuing, people are dying and rockets are still falling in Israel. Yesterday two Arab-Israeli children were killed in Nazareth, showing that Hizbullah’s aim is not always accurate, but always deadly.

The film crew at The Media Line went out on Tuesday to northern Israel to take footage of the rockets as they fell. I did not have the option to go but considering I do not want to induce heart attacks on my parents, I think it was a good idea to stay back at the office. The film crew returned with a scrap of metal from a Katyusha rocket that had landed in a field. This sharp piece of gnarled metal is only as big as my fist but just holding it in my hand, I could feel its weight and how much destruction it could cause as just a tiny piece of a large rocket.

The piece of metal that I touched is only one way that I have been affected by this week’s events. Luckily, I’m safe and not affected directly but I can feel it through people around me. My roommate at the dorms, however, has to worry as her cousins and family in Israel are called up to North. In Israel there is mandatory conscription for all males between 18-21 (females serve 21 months). After their three-year service, they serve in the reserves and can be called up until age 42. This week three more battalions of reserves were called up, meaning a lot of families are now hoping their sons, brothers and fathers are going to be okay.

Many people in Jerusalem have also opened their homes to residents fleeing the north of the country. It is not uncommon to hear that so-and-so is hosting a 9 person family from Haifa who may or may not be related to them.

My weekend is going to be spent in the south of the country. While there are still qassam rockets being launched into the south from Gaza, unless they develop a longer range one tonight, I should be out of the heat on my trip to Beer Sheva and Yeruham. Have a good weekend and thanks to everybody for thinking of me and wanting me to be safe.