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Israelis Familiar with Disruptions to Daily Life
(Globe and Mail-Canada) Neri Zilber - Missile strikes, terror attacks and sudden outbreaks of war are familiar to Israelis - along with the disruptions to daily life. The Israeli government began taking measures more than three weeks ago to halt the spread of the coronavirus, well before many Western states. Psychology and history help explain part of the response. The Jewish state is ever vigilant and always on guard. Bounded on one side by the Mediterranean Sea and on others by often hostile neighbors, Israel is sometimes referred to as a "terrestrial island." There are only four international border crossings and one real international airport. Some 500 km. of reinforced metal fencing and concrete walls have been erected in recent years to guard borders in the north, east and south - not including the "security barrier" that separates Israel from much of the Palestinian population. Like everywhere else, Israelis monitor the daily uptick in infected, ponder the economic damage of the near-total shutdown, and wonder when the crisis will end. Like everyone else, Israelis are hunkering down. The writer, based in Tel Aviv, is an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a senior fellow at BICOM, a British think tank.