Helen Freedman is Executive Director, Americans For A Safe Israel/AFSI. She co-hosts, along with Charlie Bernhaut, a Manhattan Cable TV show every Monday night at 8:30 P.M. entitled "Israel Update." Helen Freedman can be reached at: afsi@rcn.com.

Aryeh King lives in Ras Al Amud, a new Jewish development on the Mt. of Olives, initiated by Dr. Irving Moskowitz. He is surrounded by Arabs, dependent on the Arabs for his electricity, and daring to be where he is because of his love for Yerushalayim. From the roof of his home one can see Abu Dis, where Arafat's intended capitol building has already been built. But more importantly, one can also see the magnificent Judean desert and the walls of the Old City. The Ras Al Amud project is inspiring to see, as three beautiful white apartment buildings grace the landscape, and three more are projected to be built. In addition, the old Hevra Kadisha building and the Geniza, which had been used as a sheep pen by the Arabs, will be rebuilt into a community center.

Shani Simkowitz, head of development for Gush Etzion, lives in Tekoa, forever infamous due to the bestial murders and dismemberment of Yossi Ishran and Kobi Mandel by the Arabs. She introduced the American Friends of Likud group with which I was traveling to Shaul Goldstein, Mayor of the Regional Council of Gush Etzion. He described the present situation as a real war - except that the Arabs do the shooting and the Jews can't return fire. Citizens are arrested by the Israeli police for protecting themselves.

Two sixteen-year-old girls, Aviva Sutnick and Elisheva Milstein, also residents of Tekoa, gave us an emotionally charged message. Elisheva described how she had looked forward to her 16th birthday, expecting that she'd be able to enjoy all the freedoms that every girl her age might anticipate. Instead, she feels caged in her community, unable to travel, to hike, to visit friends and to socialize - in short, to live the life of the average teenager. Her friend Aviva told us that she will not go to school -- "to worry all during the trip there - and then worry all day long about the trip back - and whether she'll get home - and if her family will be there when and if she arrives." She couldn't bear all the stress, and so remains at home and receives home tutoring, along with many others who are suffering the same anxieties. Their message was a simple one - "We want to live."

Laser Amitai lives in Kfar Darom with his motherless children. His wife Miriam, at age 35, was killed when a Kfar Darom school bus was targeted by Arafat's murderers and blown up. It was the same heinous act, which made amputees of the three Cohen children. In his wife's memory, Laser has published the personal notes and prayers contained in Miriam's siddur which was found amidst the debris of the bombed out bus. Laser remains in Kfar Darom, determined that his wife's murder will not frighten him and his family away from living in their beloved home, despite the fact that mortars are fired at Kfar Darom on a daily basis.

Rachel Saperstein is a teacher at the Ulpana in Neve Dekalim. Of the 250 girls who attend the school, 95% are from Gush Katif. This is the school where Miriam Amitai had been a beloved teacher, and where 12-year-old Orit Cohen, who lost half her foot in the bus bombing, had been a student. Because of the daily mortar and terror attacks the caravan dormitories that housed the students had to be closed down. The girls now have to travel on the dangerous roads back and forth to their homes each day. Although armored buses are used, the Arabs have developed metal piercing bullets that can penetrate even the supposed bulletproof buses. The government's response to the attacks is to erect six feet high concrete slab structures at regular intervals in front of the school bus stops and along the road. The concrete slabs look like tombstones. I shuddered at the ominous sight and am repulsed now at the thought of them - as well as the futility and inadequacy of such a response to terror by a sovereign nation pledged to protect its citizens.

Shifra Manshiri, a student at the Ulpana, created a film on Gush Katif that could serve as a compelling advertisement for the beauties and attractions of the area. Her film showed the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, the agricultural hothouses and magnificent fields, the schools, the children playing in the sand, the Yeshivot, horseback riding, basketball, the lush flowers, the dairies with their soulful looking cows, and the attractive restaurants. In short, a tourist's delight. Yes, that is Gush Katif, and it is what the tourist will find, when and if the government decides to end the pretense of a "peace" arrangement with Arafat and the Arabs pledged to exterminate the State of Israel. Until then Shifra's film will remain a beautiful picture of the past, and perhaps the future, but not the present, where all the beauty is overshadowed by the scepter of daily killings and terror.

Rachel Gedg is a wonderful young woman who created a new community in Gaza, on the sea, called Shirat HaYam. Seven months ago, following the brutal killing of Roni Tzalach, who was brutally murdered in his greenhouse, leaving a pregnant wife and young son, she decided that the only meaningful response would be to start a new community. She found ten destroyed bungalows along the beach, which had previously been used by Egyptian generals on vacation in Gaza. Rachel and a friend moved into one of them, defying all dangers and difficulties. Today there are ten caravans in the community housing six families and a synagogue. When we visited them we were given beautiful gifts of Gaza seashells prepared by the children of Shirat HaYam. They had worked on the project together, knowing that visitors were coming from America and beyond. Their proud and beaming faces told the whole story. These children are the lifeblood of the Jewish people in the Jewish state. They must live.

In Herzliya Pituach, our gracious hostess warned us away from shopping in the malls for fear of bombs and explosives. She waits anxiously every day for the afternoon call from her daughter assuring her that all have arrived home safely, before she can go on with her life.

In Safed, where the artists' colony was filled with tourists in previous years, the streets are now eerily empty. One man called out to me, "You're not afraid to come to Israel?" For nine months there has been little or no business. The artists' livelihood has dried up, along with that of all the small businesses, restaurants and hotels that depend on tourism for their living.

My friends in Tel Aviv are still reeling from the horrific suicide bombing of the Dolphinarium which took twenty-one lives and left so many wounded, some still in critical condition. They talk about the near escapes that a son, a relative, a neighbor had that night when he wasn't in the group that fell victim to the bomber. Fear and uncertainty stalk the streets, the discos, the restaurants and all the public areas within the city.

There is only one conclusion to draw from everything I've seen and heard on this latest visit to this most beautiful and beloved land of Israel. Jews throughout the world must show solidarity with their brothers and sisters who are living their daily lives under incredible tension and anguish. This solidarity must make it clear to Prime Minister Sharon that he must make good on his campaign promises to bring security and strength to the people of Israel. They can no longer be sitting ducks to Arab terror. There can no longer be the pretense of "cease-fires, cooling-off periods, and confidence building measures" when speaking about the war criminal Arafat and his murderous cohorts. The people of Israel want to live - and they can only do that if their sovereign government states loudly and clearly that Arafat is the enemy and he and his army must be defeated. Anything less is unacceptable. L'Chaim - To Life!!

Editor's note - this article has been shortened due to space considerations. The original article, in its entirety, can be found at http://www.afsi.org/COMMENTARY/live1.htm.

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