In Shuttered Border Towns, A Decision to Stay or Go

Pinchas Aplaton stayed in Margaliyot, on the Lebanese border, to tend crops when his family -- and almost everyone else in the town -- evacuated. (Photos By Samuel Sockol -- The Washington Post)

"Because of the war up north, there arose a need for northern families to leave their homes. This is a private initiative of Shlomi, a teacher in Jerusalem who had the idea to draft families to shelter people," the site explains.

As the violence began to escalate, Zvi Marun, a school administrator born in the north, invited residents of Margaliyot and several nearby villages to stay in dormitories in Netanya on the Mediterranean coast, left vacant during the summer recess. About 140 families took him up on the offer to come to Neveh Hadassah school, a leafy campus that feels more like summer camp than a refugee camp.

His staff has served the displaced Israelis three meals a day and organized activities for their children, such as an on-campus swimming pool and trips to a nearby amusement park.

"We do this because the Katyushas don't fall here and we have many families in the North that are in the shelters for six days already," Marun said in a telephone interview, referring to rockets fired by Hezbollah. Israel's Education Ministry has agreed to foot the $30,000 daily bill for at least a week, he said.

"In the beginning, the plan was to get the children out, even without parents, but they wouldn't come alone," he said. "So we decided that we had no choice and took everyone."

"They received us with open arms. I was so grateful I was speechless," said Irit Aplaton, in the white-tiled dormitory room she shares with her children. "Some people didn't like the accommodation, so they went to hotels, but we are happy here."

"Of course, I would rather be home. I can't stop thinking about my husband working out in the open all day," she said.

"This is not new for us," she was quick to point out. "We have been through it before." Most of Margaliyot was evacuated during an Israeli offensive on Lebanon in 1996. That time, residents left their homes for three weeks.

"I hope it is shorter this time," she said.

Asked if she is concerned for her own safety, Irit said she was sure residents of southern Lebanon are in worse condition.

"They are good people and I hope they are not suffering," she said, recalling the days of the Israeli occupation, when relatives of Lebanese soldiers recruited to the Israeli cause were permitted to cross the border and work in Israeli homes. Later, she said, after Israel pulled back, Lebanese shepherds would graze their flocks up to the flimsy border fence to chat with Margaliyot residents.

"Our government is looking after us," she said. "I don't know who is looking after them."

But Irit, an assistant kindergarten teacher, and her husband said they welcomed the Israeli government's air assault on Lebanon, despite the disruption to theirs and others' lives.

"This time Hezbollah must be destroyed totally. There is no other choice," she said. "We are patient people. Even if it takes two months, when we go back home I want to know we are going back for good."

Special correspondent Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.