In a previous blog post, I told you I once worked on a kibbutz. It was in the winter of 1987/88. The kibbutz was called Sde Nehemia, and I worked in the plastic factory. This was boring. Sometimes life was very exciting, though, even dangerous. That was fun.
I was very naive back then. I read about the Palestinians but I guess I saw them just as terrorists, with all the hijackings of the past decade. While I was on the kibbutz, the first Intifada started. This was the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. I remember one night we woke up to the sound of a siren. We got up. People were frantically running around in the dark. Palestinian terrorists1 had crossed the border with Lebanon and were roaming the countryside. We were 10 km from the border, so this was a problem. All the men carried Uzis over their shoulder. We volunteers had to hide in an underground bunker. It was all very exciting. I was not afraid because I didn't feel I was involved in this conflict. In hindsight, I am not sure a Palestinian who encountered me in the dark would have had the same opinion. We tried to sleep in the bunker.
In the morning, we got out of our hiding place and went to work. The plastic factory was still boring.
...or freedom fighters, depending on which side you are on.