'It's a matter of chance ... it could be you, me, anybody'

The conflict has touched the lives of the Lebanese. Picture / Reuters

NAZARETH - Rabbia Taluzi, 3, and Mahmoud Taluzi, 7, were playing in a street in the crowded heart of Nazareth yesterday when the Katyusha came out of clear blue sky and killed them.

The two boys became the first Israeli Arabs to die in this war when four Hizbollah rockets - which make no distinction between Jewish and Arab victims in northern Israel - hurtled into the densely populated hill town where Jesus grew up.

Rabbia and Mahmoud were the 15th and 16th Israeli civilians to die in the past week. Earlier, eight civilians died in a rocket attack on Haifa's rail depot. And a rocket killed a man in Nahariyah, who had simply left a shelter to fetch a towel for his daughter.

The boys were killed by shrapnel that flew 10m from where the crater and smashed window frames of the adjacent houses testified to the force of the blast, which also injured 18. In the yard behind one of them, dozens of children from the same extended family had been playing as the adults enjoyed a reunion inside the house.

As the sun set over the melancholy scene, people voiced shock that Hizbollah would hit an Arab town and anger at the lack of shelters, warning sirens or clear advice in Arabic from the Government.

Tarek Salah, 37, the owner of the house where the reunion was taking place, said: "We need to live in peace. Both sides need to live in peace. My sons are important; their sons [in Lebanon] are important."

Mohammed Razeq, 50, said: "We want all the countries to stop the war. We are here without shelters. The Home Front [command of the Army] have not given us any instructions about what to do with our kids. My son could be killed; your son could be killed. And for what?"

Abdul Khaliq Said, 54, said: "It's a matter of chance. It could be you, it could be me. It could be anybody."

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