the buffalo news
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On trip to Israel, family experiences war up close
Published on July 27, 2006
Author: Peter Simon - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
© The Buffalo News Inc.
Dr. Peter Winkelstein’s family trip to Israel became an up-close glimpse of the Middle East war, with danger just one step behind the Grand Island residents.
While in Haifa, Winkelstein — along with his wife and four children — watched from a hillside garden as the first Israeli rockets were fired into southern Lebanon following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers.
Later, as their bus left the Galilee town of Safad, smoke rose behind them as the first Hezbollah rockets landed there.
And while in Jerusalem, the Winkelsteins witnessed the arrest of a would-be suicide bomber from their bus window.
“Luckily, we were kind of one step ahead,” said Winkelstein, back at work Tuesday as chairman of clinical and scientific informatics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “The rockets were behind us. It was pretty scary.” Even more adventure followed on the two-week trip that concluded this week.
Winkelstein and Devlin, his 22-year-old son, broke away from the scheduled tour for one day to join a solidarity delegation from the American Jewish Committee on a visit to Sderot, a town that for years has been hit by rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Mayor Eli Moyal told the group that Sderot’s biggest problem is not the physical destruction or the effect on commerce and tourism, but the almost universal incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among its children.
“They can’t study,” said Winkelstein, a physician. “They can’t sleep. They’re losing their childhood. The mayor’s personal nightmare is that a rocket will land in the school yard during recess.”
A siren system in Sderot gives residents about 15 seconds warning before a rocket hits, prompting the Americans to ask what can be done in such a short time.
“You pray,” Moyal replied.
Winkelstein said the Sderot visit drove home the personal nature of the conflict and helped him more fully understand what polls show to be overwhelming support for the war effort from the Israeli public.
“This absolutely has got to be done,” he said. “You can’t continue to live with rocket attacks year after year after year. It would be like you or me waiting for rockets to be lobbed into Buffalo from Canada at any moment.”
Winkelstein and his family — wife Kendra and children Devlin, Camden, Nathan and Susan — were on a tour headed by Rabbi Michael Feshbach, a former rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville. Feshbach now heads a congregation in Maryland.
A planned excursion to Petra, Jordan, was scrapped when the Israeli tour operators deemed it unwise to travel outside the country.
Winkelstein will discuss his trip during the 6 p.m. service Friday at Temple Beth Zion, 805 Delaware Ave. He will be joined by Holly Levy and Ellen Goldstein, who were recently in Israel on behalf of the Buffalo Jewish Federation.
Dr. Peter Winkelstein said his visit provided understanding of the stakes for Israel.
News Library
On trip to Israel, family experiences war up close
Published on July 27, 2006
Author: Peter Simon - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
© The Buffalo News Inc.
Dr. Peter Winkelstein’s family trip to Israel became an up-close glimpse of the Middle East war, with danger just one step behind the Grand Island residents.
While in Haifa, Winkelstein — along with his wife and four children — watched from a hillside garden as the first Israeli rockets were fired into southern Lebanon following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers.
Later, as their bus left the Galilee town of Safad, smoke rose behind them as the first Hezbollah rockets landed there.
And while in Jerusalem, the Winkelsteins witnessed the arrest of a would-be suicide bomber from their bus window.
“Luckily, we were kind of one step ahead,” said Winkelstein, back at work Tuesday as chairman of clinical and scientific informatics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “The rockets were behind us. It was pretty scary.” Even more adventure followed on the two-week trip that concluded this week.
Winkelstein and Devlin, his 22-year-old son, broke away from the scheduled tour for one day to join a solidarity delegation from the American Jewish Committee on a visit to Sderot, a town that for years has been hit by rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Mayor Eli Moyal told the group that Sderot’s biggest problem is not the physical destruction or the effect on commerce and tourism, but the almost universal incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among its children.
“They can’t study,” said Winkelstein, a physician. “They can’t sleep. They’re losing their childhood. The mayor’s personal nightmare is that a rocket will land in the school yard during recess.”
A siren system in Sderot gives residents about 15 seconds warning before a rocket hits, prompting the Americans to ask what can be done in such a short time.
“You pray,” Moyal replied.
Winkelstein said the Sderot visit drove home the personal nature of the conflict and helped him more fully understand what polls show to be overwhelming support for the war effort from the Israeli public.
“This absolutely has got to be done,” he said. “You can’t continue to live with rocket attacks year after year after year. It would be like you or me waiting for rockets to be lobbed into Buffalo from Canada at any moment.”
Winkelstein and his family — wife Kendra and children Devlin, Camden, Nathan and Susan — were on a tour headed by Rabbi Michael Feshbach, a former rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville. Feshbach now heads a congregation in Maryland.
A planned excursion to Petra, Jordan, was scrapped when the Israeli tour operators deemed it unwise to travel outside the country.
Winkelstein will discuss his trip during the 6 p.m. service Friday at Temple Beth Zion, 805 Delaware Ave. He will be joined by Holly Levy and Ellen Goldstein, who were recently in Israel on behalf of the Buffalo Jewish Federation.
e-mail: psimon@buffnews.com
Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News
