Saturday, November 13, 2004

A Lebanese Girl And An Israeli Girl Write Their Names On Rockets

Suukee was eleven years old, the daughter of a Lebanese fisherman. She wore black linen pants, a beige linen shirt and leather sandals and had a black scarf wrapped around her long black hair. Suukee's linen came from flax grown in northern Spain, fabricated in Ireland, and exported to Beirut where it was sewn into garments. The leather in Suukee's sandals came from a steer born in Texas, whose hide was cut and exported to Bucherest, Romania where it was fashioned into sandals, which were then exported to Beirut. Suukee held a blue Sharpie nontoxic permanent felt tip marker in her right hand. The Sharpie marker was made by the Sanford Corporation of Bellwood, Illinois. The blue ink in the marker was manufactured in Brazil where it was trucked to Caracas and soaked with the felt-tips of the pens, packed and inserted into plastic blanks, packaged and loaded on a container ship where it was shipped to Southampton, England where it was exported to Beirut.
Suukee was standing next to a Katyusha rocket that was leaning against a cinderblock wall in an alley of the seaside town of Sidon in Southern Lebanon. The steel of the Katyusha was manufactured in Russia, sold to China where it was shipped to North Korea where the rocket was shaped and shipped back to Russia where it was armed. She wrote her name 'Suukee' on the tip of the Katyusha rocket. A Shiite man standing next to the rocket smiled. Suukee smiled back. The Shiite man picked up the rocket with the assistance of two other Shiite men, each a member of Hezbollah, and loaded the rocket onto the back of a 2003 green Ford F-150 pickup truck, a truck designed in Deaborn, Michigan and assembled from parts manufactured in Asia and the United States. As the Ford truck pulled away, it kicked up dust from the stone pavement which landed partly on Suukee's face. The stone came from an old mine in the Golan Heights. Suukee rubbed her eyes, and then picked up the white and blue soccer ball manufactured by Adidas in Indonesia. She walked with the soccer ball to a small courtyard.
Rachel was eleven years old, the daughter of an Israeli fisherman. She wore a pair of Joe's Jeans which were manufactured in Hong Kong and exported to New York where they were distributed to Tel Aviv. Rachel was wearing sandals that were given to her by her uncle who purchased them in Beirut when he was on a business trip. Rachel's white t-shirt had a photograph of Madonna on it. Rachel was wearing a baseball cap with the Brazil national soccer team's insignia embroidered on the front. She held a blue Sharpie nontoxic permanent felt tip marker in her right hand.
Rachel was standing next to a Jericho missile, which was entirely manufactured in the United States, but retro-fitted in Israel. The Jericho missile was supported horizontally by a trailer on wheels and there was a buzz of activity to prepare the missile to be brought to an Israeli submarine to get in on board so the submarine could pull out of Haifa's naval marina as soon as possible. Rachel wrote her name on the tip of the Jericho missile with the blue Sharpie felt-tip pen. Several Israeli Navy officers smiled at Rachel, but urged her to move away so they could start hauling the missile down the ramp to the submarine. Rachel picked up her red Lands’ End backpack which contained several books and her burgundy leather-bound diary which was exported from New York by Graphic Image. She walked up a hill in Haifa to one of the several Haifa libraries.
An Israeli jet dropped a bomb on the courtyard in the seaside town of Sidon where Suukee was kicking her Adidas soccer ball.
Sukkee's Katyusha rocket landed on the library in the town of Haifa where Rachel was writing in her burgundy leather-bound diary with a blue Bic pen manufactured by Biro of France.
Suukee and Rachel died within minutes of each other on Sunday morning in the heat of the July sun. The sky was clear, except for the smoke and dust that rose from the blast caused by the rockets. The Israeli submarine made it to safe waters carrying the Jericho missile.