Israeli Students Describe Terrors of War

“From 7 p.m., we didn’t leave our houses. It was very frightening, because that was the time the missiles fell.

“Whenever we walked in the street, we carried our brown boxes that held gas masks. If the alarms went off, we had to race into ‘safe’ rooms, and if we showed up at school without our masks, they sent us home.”

You could almost see the intake of breath as the Arcadia High School yearbook production class listened, spellbound, to Ari Makov give his first-person account of living through the Persian Gulf War. Ari and Liat Kaufman, both 16-year-old high school students from Israel, were at Arcadia as part of a recent five-day tour of Los Angeles-area schools. The pair, among dozens chosen by their government for such tours after an extensive interview process, spoke about life as teen-agers in Israel today.

Not surprisingly, many San Gabriel Valley students wanted to hear about life during wartime, even though the two Israeli students did not come under direct attack because they live in Jerusalem, which was spared from the Iraqi missiles of Saddam Hussein.

For teen-agers in the placid, neatly manicured suburb of Arcadia, the idea of Scud missiles, bomb shelters and air-raid sirens shattering groggy sleep perhaps seemed as far removed from reality as the surreal scenes of war that flickered across American TV screens in recent weeks like Nintendo games gone amok.

And certainly, the appearance of Ari and Liat did little to counteract those images. With her long, dark blond hair, oversized flannel shirt, jeans and black Reeboks, Liat could have stepped right out of any Southern California shopping mall. And Ari’s matter-of-fact descriptions of practice drills in case of chemical attacks were accompanied by adolescent shrugs and grins.

It was only when the jeans-clad teen-ager showed off his uncle’s Israeli army pilot jacket bearing a patch proclaiming “Lions of the Desert” that a sense of immediacy was brought home to the students.

“I felt for them,” said senior Ryan Espenscheid, 17. “I was trying to picture myself in the same situation, of having to go to school with gas masks and knowing the Iraqis were bombing them.” Ryan said the experience has piqued his curiosity to visit Israel.

“I told them I was so happy they didn’t retaliate against Iraq, and they said, ‘We know, we have the same feeling.’ It was interesting to see how they dealt with having their homeland bombed,” Ryan said.

In Israel, Ari explained, all teen-agers must enter the army at 18; boys for three years and girls for two. Additionally, high school students spend a week each year in military training, where they often dig ditches, harvest crops and perform other types of civic service.

Soon the talk turned to the Palestinians and speculation about whether Israel would give up any land in the occupied Gaza Strip or the West Bank.

“From where you live, do you have any problems with the Palestinians?” one Arcadia student wanted to know.

“Do you have any racial problems in Israel?” another inquired.

“What is the national language?” yelled another.

Liat and Ari fielded the questions deftly.

The end of the war has brought a “whole new chance for peace in the Middle East,” Ari said. He added that Israel was a nation of immigrants, filled with disparate cultures and races, including a growing number of Jews from Ethiopia, in Northern Africa.

Liat explained that Hebrew, which is written from right to left, is the national language, although students are required to take English starting in the fourth grade and must also study three years of either Arabic or French.

Neither Israeli student was personally acquainted with any Palestinians, they said.

“It’s not because I try to avoid them,” Liat said. “It’s because we go to different schools. I haven’t had a chance to meet any.”

The Israeli students said their trip was sponsored jointly by their country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education, which interviewed hundreds of students before choosing several dozen to tour high schools around the world.

The government first tested the students’ English skills--both Ari and Liat are fluent--and then administered essays to test their general knowledge. Candidates also were asked to respond to sensitive political statements about Israel to test their reactions, the students said.

Liat said they were not coached on appropriate answers. Instead, the Israeli authorities seemed more concerned that the students would be able to field hostile questions, especially about the Palestinian issue.

“They told us we must give our own opinion, even if it isn’t that of the government, because we aren’t diplomats, we are just students,” Liat said.

But she said most of the students she has met are more interested in details of daily life in Israel.

At Arcadia High, students were surprised to learn about Israeli fast food; there is a popular hamburger chain throughout the country called “McDavid’s.” But cheeseburgers aren’t on the menu. McDavid’s observes kosher dietary laws that forbid mingling of meat and dairy products.

All too soon, the class was over, and the visitors left, clutching gifts of Arcadia High “Apache” sweat shirts and autographed yearbooks.