rockets struck there, killing eight people and injuring seven, "thanked God" Monday, July 17, for saving her life.
Still shaking after the near-death experience, 32-year-old Zhanetta Cigankova, who visited the Israeli port city for trade, said she suddenly heard "a huge explosion" Sunday, July 16, as she prepared to leave a Haifa guest home to take the train to Tel Aviv airport for her return trip to Budapest, Hungary, where she resides.
"The whole house was shaken…The rocket fired by [the militant group] Hezbollah [from Lebanon] apparently hit an apartment block nearby. I was alone in the house and had no idea what to do. I tried to call my Israeli friends, but nobody picked up the phone," apparently because they were already hiding in bomb shelters, she told BosNewsLife recalling the Sunday violence.
Unable to find a taxi and not knowing where to hide herself, she considered walking to the nearby train station that Sunday morning, not realizing another rocket was about to slam into the train depot.
"As I rushed to the street with some bread, chocolate and documents in my hand, an elderly neighbor invited me to his home where he has a bomb shelter". He had been an army officer and was prepared for these kind of situations as his shelter was well equipped, she recalled.
BIG TELEVISION
For what appeared to be an "endless time," Cigankova stayed there with the man and other relatives, including his two young grand children. "There was a big television and even a bathroom in the shelter. He tried to calm us down, making jokes and watching television."
The man initially shrugged off Cigankova’s suggestions that Hezbollah may try to hit the train station, but suddenly the mood changed, she explained. "He turned his head from the television set and looked at me, his eyes looked strange and he was angry. ‘Zhanetta, baby,’ he said, ‘You are not going to Budapest today. They have hit the train station’."
She said the experience had made her think more about God. "Had this man not been there, I most likely would have been at the train station when the fatal rocket struck."
Later, Zhanetta Cigankova still managed to get a taxi via her business partner for a long and tortures journey to Tel Aviv. "I still remember the air sirens and explosions. I must have heard at least five huge attacks," she said.
TRAFFIC LIGHTS
"Yet the taxi driver instead of driving faster, looked out of the windows, perhaps to see where the rockets would land. What was even more surprising to me that the taxi and other cars still stopped for red traffic lights. It was as if they still didn’t want to realize the seriousness of the situation or just didn’t want to panic. One man even cleaned an emty street," as rockets showered Haifa.
She eventually reached Tel Aviv airport where, she said, security was strict. "I was even delegated to a separate room and had to undress because my new shoes made noises." After several delays Italian airliner Alitalia flew her via Milan to Budapest. "I pray to God that Israel will not stumble into an all-out war."
Cigankova leaves behind Israeli friends, including soldiers whom she apparently met near the Lebanese border. "Since last week at least two of them were killed. It was so strange because some of them I met while they had a barbecue near the Lebanese border. These young, handsome men, are trying to defend their country as best as they can." Cigankova stressed she "absolutely understands" Israel’s military response to the Hezbollah violence. "They have to do something against the attacks."
She still wants to return to Haifa, where she is involved in selling and exporting DVD renting machines with an Israeli partner. "We have great plans and hope this conflict will not interrupt this business," added Cigankova, a thought shared by more Israeli and international investors. "Nobody expected this to happen…"
MORE ATTACKS
Her account of events came as residents in Haifa endured more rocket attacks Monday, July 17, with reports that a rocket fired from Lebanon brought down a three-storey residential building in the northern Israeli city and there were casualties. Medics were quoted as saying that the collapsed building was on fire and that two people were being treated near the rubble. Rescue crews were trying to search for trapped victims under the debris, television footage showed.
The latest violence came after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, said Israel would continue to search out and attack "the terrorist infrastructure" of both Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He accused the governments of Syria and Iran of backing both groups and warned that Israelis will no longer live under the threat of rocket attacks from Lebanon or the Palestinian territories, describing Israel’s actions as "basic self-defense."
Israeli officials have said publicly that Israel would not stop fighting until Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that controls much of south Lebanon, is dismantled. However on Monday, July 17, Olmert said Hezbollah should be "moved away from the border" as it aims to destroy the State of Israel. His comments seemed to be a softening of Israel’s earlier position, which could increase chances of a cease-fire, analysts said.
"We shall struggle for the implementation of the conditions laid down by the international community … the return of the hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, a total cease-fire, the deployment of the Lebanese army in all of south Lebanon and the removal of Hezbollah from the region," the prime minister stressed.
ITALY INTERVENES
Israeli officials said earlier Monday, July 17, that Olmert had conveyed Israel’s position to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who is attempting to broker a cease-fire deal, news reports said. The fighting began when Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers last week in a cross-border raid. Since then, Israel has pounded Lebanon with air strikes and Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and missiles into Israeli towns and cities.
Israel also keeps the pressure on Gaza and bombed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry overnight to pressure Hamas to also release a soldier it kidnapped and halt rocket attacks. Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike in Lebanon on Monday, July 17, destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said. Overnight attacks by Israeli warplanes and big guns killed 17 people and wounded at least 53, Lebanese security officials told reporters.
The death toll since fighting began July 12 has climbed above 200 in Lebanon, 24 in Israel, The Associated Press (AP) news agency reported. At the Group of Eight meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, United States President George W. Bush expressed his frustration with the United Nations and his disgust with the militant Islamic group and its backers in Syria as he talked to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the closing lunch of the summit.
"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s..t and it’s over," Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll, not noting an open microphone. He also told Blair he felt like telling United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited the gathered leaders, to get on the phone with Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen," according to reporters. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to visit the region soon. (With additional reports from Israel, Lebanon and Russia and BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest).
