(Jerusalem Post, June 6) - Sitting on the couch in front of the television, full of anger and frustration, I clench my fists and consider whether pounding on the screen will somehow bring this madness to an end. I am sick and tired of watching Jews die nearly every evening on the news.

The events of recent weeks have left us all breathless and bewildered. One shocking terror attack is followed abruptly by another, which is then quickly forgotten as the next incident flashes on our screens a few hours later. Despite occasional respites, such as the present cease-fire, the macabre dance of death continues to haunt us, threatening to reignite at any moment.

For over eight months, the Palestinian Authority has been committing atrocity after atrocity, lynching our soldiers, burning down our holy sites and blowing up Jewish children. We know who the perpetrators are, we know where they live, and yet we seem powerless to stop them.

According to the IDF, there have been a total of 4,823 shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians since the start of the intifada last September, an average of nearly one attack every hour over an eight-month period.

If this is not a war, then why are we calling the current hiatus a "cease-fire?" And if it is a war, then why aren't we fighting it? It is hard to believe this is the same country that vanquished its enemies in just six days back in 1967, or rescued Jewish hostages at an isolated Ugandan airport called Entebbe in 1976. Where have all our heroes gone? What has happened to the Jewish pride and the Zionist values that enabled Israel to withstand the most difficult of challenges?

It is as if we have learned nothing from history, not one thing. After 2,000 years of exile and persecution, the Jewish people did not hang on just to create another Diaspora-like outpost of fear on the shores of the Mediterranean. Through our passivity, we have tragically begun to turn the State of Israel into the Shtetl of Israel, as we hide under our beds waiting helplessly for the next Palestinian pogrom.

The cold, hard truth is staring us all in the face. Everyone knows we are at war, everyone feels we are in a battle for the country's survival, yet we continue to delude ourselves, refusing to acknowledge what we know to be the truth: Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has declared war on the Jewish people. It is time that he be treated accordingly.

No other country would tolerate ongoing terrorist incursions into the heart of its territory. The PA has become a threat to the safety and well-being of Israel's citizens, and it is a threat that must be overcome. The United States spares no effort to track down and punish suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, going to the ends of the earth if necessary to protect its citizens. There is no reason why Israel should refrain from doing the same.

The Oslo process is dead because Arafat killed it. Former prime minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinian leader far more than he could ever have hoped to receive from an Israeli premier. Rather than responding with a counter-offer, Arafat reached for his pistol. He drew first blood, and now it is time for him to pay.

At this difficult hour, Israel needs a "fireside chat." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is a man of integrity, and the country needs to hear from him, to be reassured by him, just as president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's candid addresses bolstered the morale of the American people during World War Two. Sharon's message should be straight and to the point: This is a war. We didn't ask for it, and we didn't start it. But we will end it.

No one knows better than Sharon what needs to be done. That is why he was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the electorate. If there is a war to be won, he is the man to do the job.

Yes, the Security Council will convene, the Europeans will be hopping mad and the Syrians will make threatening gestures. Israel will pay a heavy diplomatic price for defending itself, but it is a price that pales in comparison with the innocent lives that are being lost to terror every day.

It is not a pretty picture, nor even a particularly desirable one. But we have no choice. This cannot continue. Your time is up, Arafat. The Jewish people have had enough.

(The writer served as deputy director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office from 1996 to 1999.)

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The celebration of our 28th Wedding Anniversary in Tel Aviv turned out to be a night of horror and death as we witnessed the worst terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in more than five years. The memory of that moment has come back to us over and over in the past few days as a reminder of God’s protective care and the power of intercessory prayer. We went through an experience we will never forget!

It was around 9:30 PM, we had finished our dinner, had read the anniversary card given to us by our staff and had enjoyed some special moments together. We decided that we would take a late night walk on the beach front near the Mediterranean sea.

We crossed the highway and stopped to observe a Wedding reception in the park. We then walked on sidewalks near the water,  We wanted to sit down and enjoy the lovely sound of the ocean but there were no chairs near the water. We discussed which direction to walk and decided to proceed north along the beachfront.

We passed outdoor cafes and people relaxing near the beach. As we proceeded up the walkway, we came near a private Wedding party which was being held in a hall on the beach and proceeded to walk "around" the beach party and disco-tec areas. To our left while walking through a park area and into a dark parking lot, we saw the Dolphinarium (a/k/a "Infinity Disco-tek"). We noticed there was a long line of young people outside. Loud music was coming from the Disco but we didn’t pay much attention because we were not interested. On our right there was a large electric structure rising high up towards the sky which was very colorful and we almost stopped to speak to the people operating it to ask what it was all about. (Had we stopped to talk we might have been in the center of the detonation) but felt the area was dark and heavy, and oppressive. We moved out of the area rather quickly.

Most likely we were closer to the suicide bomber than we would like to imagine. He had been in the shadows and had wheedled his way into the crowd of teenagers unnoticed; however, we couldn’t have been too far away from him. We continued to walk through the parking lot by the "Infinity" and soon we were on the main sidewalk again. We had thought about stopping in an area right outside of the Infinity where people were selling things but we decided that it probably was New Age stuff so continued to walk north on the main sidewalk. We had no hint what lay ahead of us in the next half hour.

After walking approximately 20 minutes we turned around and decided to return south in the direction of our hotel. Little did we know that we were turning in the direction of death and destruction. We walked back near the Infinity and suddenly without any warning we heard and felt a big EXPLOSION...a powerful blast pushed against us. Instinctively people screamed.  Within a few seconds there were police cars screeching up to the scene, crowds began to form, and sirens of ambulances began to sound. People were confused as some ran towards the blast and others ran away from it. For a few seconds we were stunned and troubled. What to do? It was almost disbelief of what we had just encountered. Had it really happened? A bomb attack? Had we just experienced a narrow escape from death?

The strength of the sudden blast had been an extremely powerful and severe force. The sound of the blast and the smoke from it had been seen from hotels down the road l/4 mile on both sides. We were a bit stunned and disoriented. We couldn’t decide what we should do next. The first thought we had was that there might be additional bombs about to explode. We decided to cross the street. By that time cars were stopped by a police car in the road. We crossed over the road a little apprehensive as if waiting for a second blast.

Before the explosion we were walking back by the wall where the people we had seen earlier were selling their wares.  The wall actually somewhat tempered the blast and probably shielded us from any flying shrapnel, nails, etc. as we were right next to it at the time of the blast. The devil had plans to destroy us, but the Lord thwarted his plans. Had we been in front of the Disco approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds later (about 135 yds further) we would most likely have taken the full force of the blast and either lost our lives or our limbs.

While crossing the street countless bodies lay in dismembered confusion. The victims were bleeding and wracked with pain -- some moving, some lying lifeless, some crying. Blood gushed out from their wounds onto the parking lot pavement on which they were scattered. In just a split second of time, many of these young people were without arms and legs, and covered with blood. Ambulances and para-medics arrived to try and help those who were wounded and to rush them to hospital. The street was quickly filled with around 40 ambulances, one lined up behind the other, to take the wounded or dead away. Israel’s ambulance services had responded quickly to the emergency calls for help.

As we were walking further away from the scene, I looked down on the street near my feet and saw someone’s body parts. It looked like intestines, and most definitely they were the organs of someone’s body. Body parts had flown in the air from the impact of the blast. Further up the street more body parts lay lifeless on the pavement. Hugh pools of blood were splattered not only on the ground but on nearby cars.

We watched for several hours as police and ambulance workers brought the wounded one by one to the ambulances. We could see that the victim’s clothes were all torn from the blast.  Arms and legs had an endless maze of shrapnel imbedded in them.  Bodies and blood were everywhere. Some had been hit in the head and were bleeding profusely. One did not have a hand...others barely hanging on for their lives.

On the ground near us lay a teenage girl in shock. Para-medics were trying to help her. Other teenagers were in tears and also in a state of shock. We saw a mother running as if she knew her child had been there and was trying to find her. People were asking "Why?" "Why have they done this to children?". We watched as a police van drove up and a police bomb sapper put on his protective gear. Workers from the local morgue were picking up body parts and placing them in plastic bags.

People in our hotel about a l/4 mile away later told us they had heard the blast. In the opposite direction a man from Switzerland told us he heard the explosion in his hotel and said it shook the hotel windows. He then saw the smoke from the bomb from his hotel window...so one can only imagine the power of the blast...yet we were protected and shielded from shock.

The experience we just recently passed through has only strengthened our resolve to "stay with the Jewish people" through their troubles. It gave us a deeper appreciation for the pain and suffering the Israelis are going through, with many losing loved ones nearly every day.

We are most grateful for some of our CFI Staff who felt led to pray for our protection that night, and our neighbors in Mevassert Zion who did not know where we were that weekend and felt they couldn’t rest until they located us. The power of intercessory prayer has many times kept us going even in difficult times, but this time prayer actually was the spiritual warfare needed to thwart satan’s evil plans for our demise. We mourn with Israel during these days, for the precious youngsters whose lives were snuffed out in a moment’s time.

We cry "save your people....save your people, O Lord and in your wrath, please remember mercy". Join with us in praying that the Jewish people would stop crying out to their government for help and begin to cry out to the God of Israel who is waiting with outstretched arms. It is the duty of the Watchmen on her walls to carry her now on the "wings of prayer".

DAVID DOLANis a Jerusalem-based author and journalist. He has written the monthly Israel News Digest for CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL since 1986. His new book ISRAEL IN CRISIS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? andhis previous books ISRAEL AT THE CROSSROADS and THE END OF DAYS may be ordered by phoning 888-890-6938 in North America, or by e mail at resources@yourisraelconnection.org, or by visiting David Dolan's website at www.ddolan.com