Grandma's army

The Gaza envelope   ‎   (“Otef Aza” in Hebrew), refers to the region of  Israel  surrounding the  Gaza Strip , to the depth of a few miles (7 kms.), mostly agricultural settlements such as  Kibbutzim  and  Moshavim . These Confrontation-line Communities compromise of   approximately 55 settlements, with the addition of the small town of Sderot. Since the  Second Intifada , and especially since Israel  withdrew unilaterally from all settlements and bases in Gaza  in 2005, the communities in the area surrounding the Gaza strip have been suffering from incessant  terrorist attacks - such as infiltration attempts,  mortar  shells and  Qassam rockets  . 13 years ago, Israel withdrew from Gaza and transferred the entire coastal territory to the Palestinian Authority. In 2007 Hamas violently seized Gaza from Abbas and the PA and has since initiated or provoked three major conflicts with Israel. For ...

The dynamics of “grandma’s army” is continuing to thrive, although I have been caught up in other matters in the last few weeks. Last Wednesday another granddaughter joined the Israeli forces - as an army instructor. The   job of army instructors is to train soldiers on every piece of equipment used in army warfare. For example: machine guns, sniper guns, armoured vehicles, mines, every type of missile ,etc. I understand that each instructor is trained to teach a specific type of equipment, both theoretically and in the field. Adi is only 19 years old and some of the soldiers she will be teaching (from the Reserves) will be old enough to be her father. She is at present going through basic training and will then begin to learn   her particular field of instruction.   Adi still has one brother (Memi) in the army, who is now in the process of becoming an officer. He has been serving in the same special unit for one-and-a-half years and still has quite a long way t...