Despatch from Haifa

Hi folks,

We spent today indoors, as did most folks in Northern Israel. Yesterday's routine repeated itself. Loud air-raid type sirens go off - We rush down to our "strong" room (a part of the house which is most structurally solid, possibly without windows - not that easy to find in some houses...) - Wait a while before we hear a number of explosions - Try to guess what direction they come from - Wait to hear on the news whether our guess was correct - Go back upstairs to do whatever we were doing before we were interrupted. In 2 out of 5 cases we hear the explosions without the siren warning. The reason we are given by the authorities is that the warnings are issued whenever a launching is detected. Because the distance between Haifa and the Lebanese border is only about 20 kilometers, sometimes the sirens are sounded after the missiles land. In some cases, the sirens go off but no explosion is heard - it is either a false alarm or the missiles have landed outside our area.

We constantly hear explosions in the distance. The poor people living along the border who have been in bomb shelters since last Wednesday, constantly hear real loud explosions. I hate to think what the children in those shelters must feel and how such an experience affects them.

Peace and Good night,