Yesterday the Ibrahim family and I made a trip to the Sinai. Just a five minute ferry ride across the Canal and there we were: crossing the Bar Lev Line. Things on the east bank are still undeveloped. We climbed in the back of an old small pickup (Dr. Ibrahim, Mrs. Ibrahim, three sons and a daughter) and took off in the direction of nothing. P.S. the first truck broke down within two miles; we were picked by another truck and continued.
Bar Lev was a line of defense established by Israel on the East bank of the Canal. It was a fortified line sufficient to stop a ground assault by Egypt. At the start of the war, the Egyptians launched one of the greatest engineering feats in military history. They used water cannons to hydraulically open a path through the line and then sent in equipment, soldiers and supplies and the war was on. We toured the old Israeli positions and I was impressed with the emptiness of the place. A few olive trees and vast openness. Nowhere to stay, nowhere to run. A very reflective day.
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