Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Feeling war from afar

Tuesday, March 25, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Returning to Israel last week, I expected to be handed a gas mask when entering the airport. Although all flights, except those of Israel's El Al, were canceled, there were no gas masks available to be distributed as there were in 1991 when Iraqi Scuds arrived almost every night. The bombing of Baghdad last week caused a rise in anxiety among the population but didn't do much to stir up the Home Front Command.

Later that evening I asked the waitress if she had a gas mask? Yes, it's back in the kitchen, she told me, and then added, with a blush, that her mother had insisted she take it downtown where she works.

I asked the same question of a couple of high school students. They have gas masks and must carry them to school or "they will send us home to get them" I was told. Their father laughed and said that the youngsters had left their gas masks at home last week and he received a phone call telling of their need.

The love-hate relationship the Israelis have with their gas masks is amusing. The taxi driver carries his in the trunk where it stays when he is home sleeping, and two young men sneered when telling me that they had no fear of the Iraqis. Of course, all of this would change rapidly about the time the sirens are sounded and the explosion of a Scud brings them back to reality.

Unlike 1991, when the few people walking the streets were carrying gas masks, today the streets are crowded and not one gas mask is in sight. Some of the adults are probably like the school youngsters who carry their masks hidden in knapsacks rather then be seen with them. Even if all the people in Israel wanted a gas mask they couldn't get one. Sunday the Home Front Command admitted it was 300,000 gas masks short to meet all of the needs. This somewhat inefficient agency and the people of Israel had better hope the United States' forces have suppressed all the Scud launching sites in western Iraq.

Last Thursday and Friday the Palestinians conducted their usual cheering for Saddam Hussein as $210,000 of his treasure was distributed to the families of suicide bombers. Jumping up and down and burning American and Israeli flags has become so common that it draws little attention anymore. Twelve years ago they stood on the rooftops in the West Bank and cheered as Scuds headed for Israel's large cities. Events planned for more demonstrations on Sunday didn't take place and none were planned for Monday or Tuesday.

The first day of the air assault on Baghdad resulted in large numbers of children being kept home by their parents. The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that last Thursday about 60 percent of the children were kept home from Tel Aviv area schools. Sunday reports of school attendance ranged from 60 percent up to 90 percent. School attendance is a good measurement of the anxiety or security felt by the population of any large city.

Monday morning, when visiting my regular coffee, juice and newspaper outlets, I was greeted with a note of sadness in the voices of my friends. The loss of U.S. Marines and soldiers in Iraq has hit the hearts of friendly Israelis. They understand the heartbreak and sadness that accompanies war and terrorism. "I'm sorry that so many of your brave friends died," a stranger told me. The lady who sold me the soap for washing my clothes remarked, "Their deaths are like those of our own family."

If an American were forced to watch only Arab television reports, he would soon become depressed. The mixture provided by CNN, BBC and Israeli outlets gives a more balanced menu. Sometimes a letter to the editor in a local paper is the best medicine. A letter in Monday's Jerusalem Post reminds readers that the deaths of three Iraqis in the first day of "Shock and Awe" is "10 times less than the number of Israelis killed by a single suicide bomber in the Park Hotel in Netanya, and seven times less than the number of teenagers killed in the Dolphinarium attack."

Then there is the sign in the window of a travel agency on Ben Yehuda Street:

Cheap tickets

$3 to Baghdad

Must fly in USAF F-15