Tel Aviv

The Promised Land; the Holy Land; a land of contrast, conflict and compromise. The country's very name calls to mind images that stretch back nearly four millenia. It is a tiny country, this Jewish state, poised tenuously on the cusp of Asia. But it looms large throughout the history of man, sacred to three of the world's great religions and many of their offshoots. And it is largely because of its religious significance that Israel draws more than a million visitors a year - travelers who may describe themselves as pilgrims or tourists - for whom this land holds deep meaning.

It is 5:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. An impeccably dressed woman with evident purpose walks briskly toward the Warwick Hotel. Before she gets through the door, she is stopped three times, to hug one of the city's leading philanthropists, shake hands warmly with an envoy from Russia, and confer with a friend in need of advice. The woman is Nancy Gilboy, director of Philadelphia's International Visitors Council. When she finally gets inside the hotel lobby, Gilboy is enveloped by a stunning range of humanity.

My dear friends, So many times in the last week I have thought of you, wished for your well-being, wondered how you were surviving, physically and mentally, as terrorism again punishes your country. I'm sure you both are frantic with work and with the children. I thought a phone call would only add to the tumult. Hence, this letter. I can only imagine the intense strain of living in Israel in the wake of the recent bombings. I share your sorrow, confusion and fear - even, yes, what I imagine is your inevitable anger.

This city was awakened at 7:20 this morning by the wail of sirens. Three minutes later at least three blasts could be heard and the concussion from the blasts at the Hilton Hotel felt like a high sudden wind hitting the building. About a mile or two to the west, almost simultaneously, a large plume of smoke rose. Tel Aviv had been struck by missiles again. The smoke looked much like that from the missile attacks 30 hours earlier around Tel Aviv. As soon as the sirens sounded, Israeli radio ordered citizens to don gas masks and enter sealed rooms.

An Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian man near Tel Aviv yesterday after the man jumped the soldier from behind and tried to seize his weapon, Israel Radio reported. The radio identified the slain man as Yassin Maazoz, 21, from the village of Jit in the occupied West Bank, but Palestinian sources gave his name as Salim Mahzoul, 21, of Jit. Palestinian sources said they believed it was the first time in their seven-month-old uprising that a Palestinian had been killed within the pre- 1967 borders of Israel, which seized Arab territory in the Six-Day War of that year.

Whenever I want to take the pulse of Israel, I head for Tel Aviv's Hatikvah quarter, a bustle of open-air produce and meat markets, small shops, and restaurants famous for grilled kebab and fish. This quarter is home to many Sephardic Jews, whose families emigrated decades ago from Muslim countries like Iraq, Syria, Iran and Yemen. Hatikvah residents lean rightward in their politics. But they veered left in 1992 to help elect the Labor Party's Yitzhak Rabin, who went on to sign the Oslo peace accord with the Palestinians.

The heat poured down onto Love Park, where the twenty-four young Israelis from Migdalei Tel Aviv (The Towers of Tel Aviv) whirled about in front of the lunchtime crowd, singing and celebrating their country's independence and their hometown's birthday. The eight- through 10th-grade performers came from Tel Aviv, Philadelphia's sister city, as part of 10-day trip to the region. The Tel Aviv parents and students paid for the flights and spending money, and the Jewish Federation paid for other costs in the United States.

Missiles slammed into Israel today during a fifth Iraqi attack. "I can only say that some missiles fell in several areas," army spokesman Nachman Shai told Israel radio. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Explosions were heard in Jerusalem as well as Tel Aviv, principal target of four previous Scud missile attacks from western Iraq that killed three people and wounded 124. Jerusalem, holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, had previously escaped attack. The all-clear notice was given to all areas of Israel except Tel Aviv and Haifa about a half-hour after sirens first sounded at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. EST)

When Islamic militants sent a suicide bomber to blow up a Tel Aviv bus yesterday, they were hoping to blow up the Israel-Palestinian peace process as well. That process had already been subjected to dramatic highs and lows in the last 11 days. The same militants, Hamas, shot two bystanders on a Jerusalem street and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders won the Nobel Peace Prize and Jordan initialed a peace treaty with Israel. But the bloody carnage in the heart of Israel's most cosmopolitan city, with at least 22 dead and scores injured, has shaken even those who understand the remaining obstacles to peace.

Until this week, the small shops, boutiques and eateries along this city's main street looked pretty much alike, regardless of whether they were owned by Arabs or Jews. Even now, the signs are all in Hebrew. So are the posters in the windows and the menus on the tables. If there's an Arabic name at all on a storefront, it's likely to be obscured by a canopy or inscribed in smaller letters. But in the last three days, there's been no difficulty in distinguishing the Jewish-owned businesses on Yefet Street.