On this day, 45 years ago, I emigrated from Britain to Israel. I've already
written about the original day (twice, in fact) - see the listings in 'This day
in history'. Instead, I want to write about where I was on the 10th anniversary,
1988, as I was doing something quite unusual, at least for me.
I had been called up for reserve military duty in September 1988, presumably a
few days after the New Year. To my displeasure, we were to be sent to an area
around the Arab city of Nablus, in what some would call the occupied
territories and others the West bank. After a few days of revision (mainly
target practice), we were divided into groups where each group would help
with guarding a Jewish settlement in the area.
My name was not called. At first, I though that I had misheard (i.e. that it
had been called and I missed it), but no, I was supernumerary. Could I go
home? Of course not. I was told to join the organising staff for the time
being, who were quartered in the police headquarters in Nablus. I didn't do
anything there, but after the first or second day, I was taken to one of the
settlements to guard on a Friday night - this day was my emigration
anniversary and I remember talking about it to someone.
Probably I spent Saturday night at this settlement as well, although I don't
recall. The next thing that I do remember was going back to Nablus, and as it
was now the morning before Yom Kippur, I asked whether I could go home for the
fast. I was allowed to do so, and for some reason that I don't remember, I
arranged with the person who took me most of the way home that I would meet
him again at a certain junction in Jerusalem in two days time. As we would be
travelling again, I left my army equipment in his car.
After the fast, I travelled to Jerusalem and waited at the junction where I
though that we had agreed to meet. I waited a few hours before I realised that
this wasn't the place, so I took a bus to Nablus (there was still such a
thing) and reported once again to the police headquarters there, this time
without any equipment (although obviously I still had my rifle). I was told to
wait and something would be arranged.
The Succot holiday came (as always) about a day after I returned to Nablus,
and as no one had told me to do anything yet, I went AWOL and and spent a weekend at home. I
returned promptly after the holiday and was about to get an earful from the
commander (along the lines of 'you could have gone to one of the settlements
and relieve someone else'), when another reservist who also had taken an unauthorised
holiday turned up. As he arrived a few hours after me, the commander's wrath
was spent on this person and I was ignored.
Eventually I was told that I would be going to a settlement called Tapu'ach
(apple), a few kilometers south of Nablus. I was delivered there and started
guarding. Several days later my equipment turned up. As there were only three
of us assigned to Tapu'ach, we skimped on the hours that we were supposed to
guard, allowing one rotating person to be at home. When I returned from my
first (and possibly only) official leave, I brought with me a small electric
light - this was so that I could read in the evenings in my room (yes, we had
individual rooms in an abandoned building). We also had to cook for ourselves.
In this fashion, another ten lazy days passed. Who would have thought 10 years
previously that this would be how I spent my time?
This day in history:
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 202 | Defining my laptop computer's wireless IP settings | Computer | |
| 286 | Terezin | Holiday, Holocaust, Terezin | |
| 634 | Emigration | Israel, Kibbutz | |
| 1174 | It was 40 years ago today | Israel, Personal | |
| 1339 | Accordion | Musical instruments | |
| 1530 | Two films | Films |
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