Currently the news is flooded with various reports about the activity going on within the borders of Israel. Over the past few days over 35,000 Palestinians have been protesting against their ‘catastrophe’, the day Israel became a nation, in 1948. The BBC refers to the organisers of this protest as ‘Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas’. The issue with this is that Hamas is a designated terrorist group by countries such as the UK, US, EU and other powers. Under its agenda is the annihilation of Israel. Regardless of your political, religious, or personal opinions the complete destruction of a group of people should be morally wrong in any language or culture.
The Prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu stated
“In order to have peace, Palestinians should abandon their fantasy of occupying Jerusalem and destroying Israel. They should abandon the fantasy that Israel will disappear. IT WILL NOT!”.
This week the home repair team in Jerusalem went up to Karmiel in the north of Israel to work with the team on the bomb shelters. The public bomb shelters in Karmiel are a large part of our work in home repair to serve this land, and could potentially be vital in saving the lives of many people.
The first bomb shelter we went in was on the ground level, it was full of old cupboards, files, shelves, and other pieces of un-useable items, all covered by a thick layer of dirt and dust. No person had been in there for a long time. We began the process of removing everything for collection. While we were doing this my ‘Red Alert’ app began making a terrific noise, warning me that rockets had been fired yet again into northern Israel. Thankfully it wasn’t our area, but it served as a grim reminder of the reality of life up in the north, made increasingly real by the work we were doing.
After that we wiped down the walls, swept the floors and cleared the dust before the task of painting began. We all had a role in the painting, some of us rolling, others were cutting. We flew through the first coat of paint, all of us motivated, focused, and full of energy, allowing us to move on to the next shelter.
The second shelter was underground; it had items that were a lot larger, like old stereos, an oven, a disco ball, it seemed like someone had been having a party down there a long time ago. There was water everywhere that had flooded in so we had to drain it, but we managed the first coat by the end of the day.
The second day we were there we had begun work before being told to drop our brushes and head upstairs to the vehicles. We drove to the emergency command centre to meet the director of the emergency operations, Moshe Levi. He gave us a tour of an underground bomb shelter with 14 monitors showing surveillance of Karmiel, and also a command room, with a full terrain map of the city. It had the location of all the bomb shelters, divided up into three categories; public (for anybody to use), private (for hotels etc.), and then the emergency refuge (for people who need support after an attack, able to care for 2000 people).
Moshe talked to us about his role, and how important the work Bridges for Peace is to him, and Karmiel. He said that he could sit here and talk to us for 2 days at least about his gratitude and the impact we were making, that we could ‘not even imagine’ how grateful he was.
He finished by saying several times that we who volunteer with Bridges for Peace, and support Israel, were angels.
Over the time we were in Karmiel we completed three bomb shelters. Those are places that are now clean, fresh, and ready should they be needed. The people have somewhere they can go that leaves them feeling as comforted as possible during what could be a very traumatic experience. It is a hope that they will never have to be used, that it would never come to the point where they would be necessary. However should the need arise we know at least, that those three that we completed over a few days are ready. That those shelters will save lives.
I also have BIG news for you all out there!!
*insert dramatic music here*
It has been confirmed that I will be staying in Israel for another year!!
I will be keeping my job title but relocating to Karmiel, to continue the work up there in a children’s home, and in the bomb shelters!!
I can’t even begin to express how excited I am for this coming season, and would like to ask that you keep me in prayer and join me in my prayer focuses.
- That this year of discipleship would end as incredibly as it started and has been through the year.
- That the planning would go well for the next group of Zealous participants.
- That my search for an apartment would go smoothly, that one would present itself in Karmiel, and that the finances would be available for said apartment.
If you have any questions and would like to get in touch, my email address is
eilirwyntreharne@gmail.com
But feel free to shoot me an email if you would like to simply talk or if there’s some way I can be praying for you!
Alternatively if you would like to support me financially or other means please to get in touch with the Bridges for Peace UK office at the following number or email address
Tel: 01656 739494
Email: ukoffice@bridgesforpeace.com
Blessings,
Your friendly excited Welshman 🙂
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