This message from a folk DJ in Northern Israel was posted today on the Folk-DJ e-mail group.

"I think that pretty much all of the people who have
related to this song have been correct, and certainly
sincere. The song does mention Lebanon's skys(read
also fields, streets etc) burning. As they were pretty
much throughout the 70's and 80's . Christian vs
Muslim, Palestinian vs Israeli. The song was written
around the time of the Lebanese Civil War- and does
not lay blame on any one side- I shall probably play
that song on one of my programmes just as soon as I
can get back to broadcasting- the Dolores Keane
version is beautiful.

The fact that I broadcast a peace programme does not
prevent me from seeing the difficulty of day to day
life here in the north of Israel at present and in the
past several years,- having to listen and look in the
skys for rockets or over my shoulder for terrorists. I
do mean this- whole areas of countryside roads have
been unsafe for years, ( I note this as a keen
cyclist) and life frequently disrupted for a few days
on end because of shelling or rocketing.
In the present tragic war- on this side most people
have fled from the north- some 300,000 people are
temporary refugees and many have no homes to go back
to.( Not to mention probably the whole population of
Southern Lebanon -not counting terrorists)
I can not go into the station- as it is now down to
one staff member at a time- in a bomb shelter.
I live outside that area- and to travel through the
rockets is madness.The kibbutz and the station seem to
be targeted more than many other places in the area-
perhaps because of the peace programmes. I am not
despairing, but feel that with the Hizbullah peace
talks or programmes are of no use- they want one
thing only, and they don't mind saying so- the
complete destruction and removal of Israel from the
map. My programmes are aimed at the good folks on both
sides of the border who just want to live and farm in
peace.

I really don't think that the FOLKDJ listis the place
for political discussion. Such discussions are carried
out on another forum- The Mudcat Cafe- which has
become an arena of endless mudslinging and infantile
name calling.
I'm just telling it as it is for this DJ- in lieu of
playlists- which I hope to resume as soon as I can.
"Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible"
as they used to say on BBC TV!
Hoping and praying for Peace-
Yours,
Menachem Vinegrad- Radio Upper Galilee- Israel"