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On the first day of the entry into force of the agreement, the Israeli inhabitants of the border area, which has suffered rocket fire from Hezbollah for more than a year, welcomed the fragile truce with fatalism.
No traffic jams on the roads leading north into Israel. Helicopters and drones are still buzzing at altitude, but on the ground, the military has abandoned its alert. The air seems changed, while large black clouds threaten: the sirens have not sounded since the middle of the night. This is how, sometimes, peace comes: on the sly.
While most Israelis welcome the cessation of hostilities with relief, the local population – those 60,000 displaced Israelis whose return has become a war goal – is rather doubtful. “This gives Hezbollah a chance to resuscitate,” says Orna Weinberg, 58, with long, messy white hair, waiting to return to her native kibbutz of Menara, founded in 1943 on a ridge overlooking Lebanon. It's an opinion that we hear in almost everyone's mouth: the strong return of
