Haifa Is Coming Out of Hiding

Haifa has come back to life. But no one knows for how long.

Israel’s third-largest city was virtually shut down after fighting broke out with the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah on July 12.

Many residents fled south to escape Hezbollah rocket attacks, and those who remained spent much of their time in bomb shelters. Streets were empty, shops closed and trains stopped running.

In the first two weeks of fighting, 65 rockets hit Haifa, killing 10 people and wounding 60, said Nir Mariash, the city’s police chief. Eight railway workers were killed July 16 when a rocket struck a depot, the largest one-day civilian toll in Israel since the start of the conflict.

This week, the once-bustling Mediterranean seaside city, about 20 miles from the Lebanese border, has shown signs of recovery. But residents say much is dependent on whether Hezbollah rocket strikes begin anew.

Attacks across Israel’s north dropped dramatically Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with a 48-hour lull in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Haifa had not suffered a rocket strike since Thursday, and in subsequent days people began to trickle back warily.

“I came back because it seemed calmer,” said Noga Fridman, a 23-year-old environmental engineering student. “But if the situation once again turns messy when the 48 hours are up, I’ll go back to Tel Aviv.”

Fridman returned to Haifa on Sunday after staying at her brother’s Tel Aviv apartment for two weeks. Since then, she’s mostly stayed at home, going out only in the evening, when it is safe.

About half of those who left -- perhaps one-third of the city’s 280,000 residents -- have returned, the police chief said. Many have gone back to work. At Haifa’s City Hall, 80% of staffers showed up Monday and Tuesday, a spokesman said.

Many stores, coffee shops and bakeries were open Tuesday, though with fewer customers than usual. Cars and buses filled streets, with the morning rush hour bringing heavy traffic to parts of the city.

Some residents left their apartments for the first time in days, hurriedly running errands.

Ariela Cohen, a day-care supervisor, visited the Talpiyot food market for the first time in two weeks. As she took out money to pay for fruit and vegetables, the 56-year-old said frequent sirens warning of rocket attacks had kept her holed up at home.

“I’m shopping today because I don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Cohen said. “People are taking advantage of the lull to buy things they need urgently.”

At the market, nearly deserted for two weeks, the air was filled with the din of cars honking, trucks unloading supplies and sellers’ chatter with shoppers and each other.

Up the street, taxi driver Marwan Klibat said that 80% of his business was back. Klibat, 28, had found few fares in the last two weeks. He said he parked the cab and ducked into a building when the air raid sirens sounded.

“Today is almost normal again,” said Klibat, as he waited for customers. “People are out shopping, and many need taxis to get home.”

Nearby, falafel stand manager Ghazi Khaled said he didn’t trust the temporary calm.

“It’s like in soccer -- people are waiting for the second half,” said Khaled, 48, as he served a young man pita bread loaded with shawarma, French fries and hummus.

Khaled, an Arab, said he didn’t understand why Israel and its neighbors couldn’t learn to get along. After all, he said, Jews and Arabs live peacefully side by side in Haifa. About one-tenth of the city’s population is Arab.

“We need peace urgently,” he said, throwing his arms out to emphasize the point. “Instead of tanks and missiles, we need to plant flowers and trees.”