2023/2024
Collection 19

The Closed Door of the Israel War

1991; Mitzpe Nevo, Ma’ale Adumim, Israel

The deafening sound of the siren pierced the air as she fled the kitchen, leaving the cupboard doors swinging behind her. With her little brothers crying in the background, she panted, speeding down the hall into her parents’ bedroom. She grabbed the cardboard box with her name on it, and pulled out her gas mask. She lifted the neck strap around her head and pressed the mask against her face. She yanked at the bands as tightly as she could, the borders of the mask suctioning to her face. Taking a deep breath, she tried to sit still, not knowing how long she would be in the “safe room.”

This was not anything unfamiliar for Sara, my mother, who was eight years old at the time. She had done this before. For the last month, Sara had been practicing this emergency drill. Even though she knew exactly what to expect, it felt different this time, because this time, it was not a test. This was not a drill. This was a war.(1)

The blare of the siren raged above her as she tried to slowly breathe. Sara’s father slammed the bedroom door behind them. Soaking a towel in a bucket of water, he rolled it on the floor against the doorframe, sealing any outside air from seeping in.

This was Israel in February 1991. For five long weeks during the Gulf War, the Iraqi government attacked the Jewish people of Israel with missiles. Over the course of those terrifying weeks, forty-two scud missiles rained down from the sky, sending citizens into bomb shelters and “safe rooms.” Sara’s family, like all the others, had been forced to run and take cover when they heard the blast of the siren.

Sara huddled with her seven-year-old brother on the lumpy bed. Her youngest brother was only five, sitting on their mother’s lap while she stroked his hair. The blinds had been pulled shut, a thick layer of plastic taped to cover the entire window. Sara’s father smoothed the tape keeping the plastic down, desperate to keep the chemicals out.

All Sara could think about was the poisonous gas that might be stored inside each 41-foot-long missile — how it could leak out at any time and take the lives of many innocent civilians.

Families were often stuck in the “safe room” for many hours at a time — sometimes overnight. During those nights, all five family members had to squeeze into one queen-size bed, and were forced to use a bucket when they needed to use a bathroom. No one was able to leave until the “all-clear” was received.

After many hours of the unknown, the radio signal was transmitted, broadcasting the approval for families to exit their “safe rooms.” The relief of being able to breathe freely again was temporary, as Sara knew that at any given moment, the siren could go off again, sending them all back. But for now, for this next breath, she chose to be happy that she had that. She had tomorrow.

Jonathan Michael Mark; New York, USA

1. The conflict in 1991 was sparked when Iraq invaded Kuwait, and a coalition led by the United States responded to push Iraq back. During the fighting, Iraq fired scud missiles at Israel because it viewed Israel as an enemy.

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