The Mideast in Crisis: The View from Holon, Israel

Photos by Joel and Susanne Dzodin

Violence has yet again erupted in the Mideast. As politicians and diplomats squabble, average Arab and Israeli citizens scramble. Here is a glimpse of one Israeli couple’s experience over the past 10 days. Joel and Susanne Dzodin, who have been married 44 years, have a son and daughter and live in Holon, a city south of Tel Aviv with a population of nearly 200,000. Joel is originally from Detroit, Michigan and Susanne was born in Hamburg, Germany. They have lived in Holon for almost six years, and in Israel 16 years. Their pictures (below) tell their personal tale.

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Bus destroyed by a rocket in Holon on May 11, in the area shown in the Dzodin photos. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Holon: View of area where a Hamas rocket scored a direct hit on a bus, showing damage to adjacent shops.

Residents gather near the rocket crash point the morning after, during cleanup operations.

A spice and nut shop near the impact zone with shattered window glass strewn throughout the store.

An apartment building on the opposite side of the street also sustained damage by the explosion of the incoming rocket. Hopefully, everyone managed to get to a reinforced shelter before the missile hit. Residents have about 90 seconds from when the alarm sounds to get to a place of safety. It's not unusual for older buildings to lack a properly bomb-resistant space. Instead, there are community shelters maintained for such situations. But will the elderly and infirm manage to get to them in time?

Our local bomb shelter during a break in the bombardment.

Safe in the bomb shelter, as the emergency sirens sounded outside and explosions were heard overhead.

Joel Dzodin inside the bomb shelter, while exploding rockets were heard overhead.