Some Perspective

Most people, including foreigners and new immigrants to Israel, have a hard time grasping what I call the “geographical” perspective of Israel.

Those of us who grew up in America “think big.” We overestimate the distances between cities here. It takes a number of road trips to be able to internalize just how small the country really is.

People who have never driven here are at a loss to understand.

Now, when the news is full of stories about the various rockets being aimed at Israeli cities in the south, it is important to be able to get a perspective.

Here is one map showing the terror threat of bombardment by rockets (you need to scroll down a bit to see it) The opening paragraphs are already somewhat out of date, since the terrorists in Gaza have improved the range of their rockets already.

One part of the map is extremely personal. Please note the threat to Ben Gurion airport. The lower arrow is at the airport, and the upper one is pointing to a space just over what is known as the green line – or what I call pre-1967 borders. That space is my yishuv.

I live in a yishuv in the first mountain range east of Tel-Aviv, and when the weather is bad, the planes circle over my house until it is safe for them to land at Ben Gurion.

There are those who want to kick the Jews out of Judea and Samaria, including me. If this comes about (G-d forbid), then instead of my being here there could be terrorists. And instead of hearing about the bombs being launched from Gaza and landing in Ashkelon, you could here about the bombs being launched from Dir Balut and landing at Ben Gurion airport. (Happy flying everybody!)