East of Nakba (6)

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

Feb, 2022

Part I. Israel bombs a nuclear plant in Iran

 

Chapter 6 Three little birds (3)

"Abdullah," the third man of three pilots, is a son of a locally-born Bedouin which was nomad of Arab. The family had been living in the Palestine since the Ottoman Empire era. After World War I, the Palestine was reigned under British trusteeship. Major part of the Palestine territory was assigned to Jews according to the Balfour Declaration, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip were assigned to the Arabs. But Israel occupied two regions after the Six-Day War in 1967 resulting in a large number of Palestinian Arab refugees. Abdullah’s family stayed in the same place where was in Israeli territory. They were indigenous inhabitants. They were called Mizurafim together with the Arabs migrated from other Islamic countries like Ethiopia.

 

Mizurafim was treated as a second-class citizen, and was actually looked down than Russian Jews.  Their status became worse after Islamic extremist carried out suicide bombings in Israel. Ashkenaze warried about Mizurafim who could be identified as Arab. Some of the young colleague of Abdullah desperately threw themselves into extremism organizations. But Abdullah decdided to live as an Israeli citizen. He tried to be a good citizen. It was to join the army and defend the country. He dedicated himself to Israel not to Arab nor religion.

 

Abdullah is the most common Arab name, and means servant of Allah. He didn’t like his nickname "Abdullah" because it sounded too Islamic favor. But he was patient. He believed that someday he himself would not care about such nickname.

 

Three pilots fixed their eyes on the rising sun on the horizon and the dawn of desert. They meditated each other. But the time for meditation was too short to perform their duty. They are now flying on Saudi Arabian airspace. The Royal Saudi Air Force had the latest ground radar system and airborne warning and control system, AWACS. They would immediately find three aircrafts passing over their airspace. Saudi Arabian jet fighters had to scramble and intercept Israeli fighters. Therefore, pilots were requested at most effort for vigilance.

 

However, at the morning-meeting of the flight plan in the base camp, the senior officer told them that there would be no possibility of interception by the Royal Saudi Air Force. They were informed that a top government official secretly notified the United States details of the airstrike plan few days ago. Then, the US informed Saudi Arabia not to intercept Israeli jets. It was agreed upon between the United States and Saudi Arabia to allow the passage of Israeli fighters. The pilots were instructed to make a detour when they reached near the Hafar al-Batten Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia. They were requested to change the flight course deep inside Iraqi territory and to fly south of Samawah.  The airspace in Iraq was wholly controlled by the US air force. There was no fear that Israeli fighters would be intercepted.

 

Three jet fighters did not face scramble from the Hafar al-Batten air base. It was confirmed by US military reconnaissance satellites. Three pilots were relieved a little bit and continued their flight at high altitude toward their target, Natanz in Iran. They were confident that Saudi Arabia could not resist the request of the United States. It was the unwavering conviction of the Israeli army that Israel and the United States had a strong relation with trust and Saudi Arabia had no veto.

 

At this moment, there was a hectic movement inside the Hafar al-Batten air base.

 

 

 

(cont’d)

Areha Kazuya