ALIZA MALKA OB"M: IN A HEARTBEAT, EVERYTHING CHANGES
The following, reprinted in its entirety, was written by Judy Singer, a member of Kibbutz Merav, home of Aliza Malka, killed last Thursday in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen.
Last night, 4 girls from the group home we run here on the kibbutz were coming back from hanging out in Beit She'an. The National Service girl who works with them went down to pick them up and bring them home. Routine. As they approached the kibbutz some shadowy figures came out of the bushes and opened fire. All four were hit. The driver, although injured herself, somehow managed to keep going and reached the kibbutz gate. Unfortunately, the medical assistance, which came very quickly, was too late for Aliza. She died of her wounds just before the helicopter which wanted to airlift her to the hospital could land. She was just 16.
Three of the girls are hospitalized, one in serious condition with chest wounds. We pray for her complete recovery and that of the other 2 girls. Unfortunately she in not out of the woods yet.
There is a sort of tragic irony that this attack happened to kids from the Group Home. Most of them have been removed from their families by court order, after experiencing the kind of early childhood we only knew of previously from nightmares.
Some of them have no family at all, other than the kibbutz members. All of them have grown up here for years, some since they were small. They have all made light years of progress during their time here - and now this.
There is a saying in Hebrew - "Kol ha'aretz hazit". The whole country is one big front line - a battlefront. I guess we here on Merav finally feel that this is true for us, too. For the first 9 months or so of the current intifada we felt as if we were in an isolated little bubble, still living in peace and harmony with our Palestinian neighbors. In case you're not familiar with the geography, Merav is within the "Green Line", just inside the pre-1967 border. The village 600 yards away is in the Palestinian autonomous area. The last several weeks have brought some isolated "incidents", all of which ended with no injuries - until last night.
Our four-year olds were afraid to leave the house this morning. We had to personally take them to the end of the sidewalk so they could see that there were no bad men around the corner waiting to hurt them. We tried to assure them that there were no bad men inside the kibbutz, that we have lots of soldiers and policemen everywhere to protect us. That yes, there are some bad Arabs who want to hurt Jews and make them afraid, and that we have to be brave and not show them we're scared. That we have to continue our regular lives and not give in to those who would like to kill us or drive us away. I guess there's nothing like terrorism and violence to show us that we are not, after all, in a post-Zionist age. To remind us why we live here in the first place. But how do we teach our kids not to hate, when all they see on TV are ambulances and soldiers running with stretchers from the most recent attack? How can we ourselves not sink into hatred?
As always - no answers here. We are too busy taking care of Aliza's sister, arranging shifts to stay in the hospital over Shabbat with the injured girls. They have no other family to be with them, after all. And in a few hours we will go to Aliza's funeral, as thousands of other Israelis will attend funerals today.
May the memories of yesterday's victims be for a blessing. Please think of us and join in our prayers for better days ahead.
Elul 5761 - September 2001