Life in the Besieged City
269
Arabs in the area. He took me to a sniper's room. The windows were boarded, and the place was dark except for a small
aperture framed by sandbags. A Yemenite Jew with a short
gray beard was sitting here, the business end of his rifle pointing through the opening. He had a lean, hawkish face and
dark Arabic features with deep-set eyes that gleamed even in
the semidarkness. I took a look through Meyer's binoculars.
I was staring directly at Deir Aboutor! I could see the top of
Osborne House and my other old haunts, less than half a mile
away. Between us was an olive grove and a treacherous noman's land of barbed wire, mines, and sniper posts. I wondered about Moustafa. I wished, somehow, that he wouldn't
become a victim of the Yemenite's deadly aim.
A few days later I visited the sniper's room again to chat
with Meyer. I did not see him. While waiting I edged over
for another look at Deir Aboutor. The Yemenite suddenly
pushed me aside: he had amazing force in his spindly arms.
He pointed to a pile of discolored sawdust on the spot where I
had just stood. A Haganah soldier explained: "Yesterday from
this exact spot Meyer was looking out. A bullet came through
and hit him between the eyes."
Shaken, I left and walked to the Rehavia residential section. I heard children crying: "Mayim, mayim! Water!" and
saw them run into their houses. They came out followed by
men and women with buckets, kettles, and pots of all sizes.
The water wagon pulled up at the corner and everyone lined
up for the precious fluid. Rations were supposed to be eight
gallons a day. But the cart had been averaging only three trips
a week because of such accidents as a bomb crashing into the
wagon or shrapnel knocking out the driver.
I watched the men and women jostle in line, chattering
excitedly in Hebrew, while the children scampered around
with tin cups catching droplets before they hit the curb.
There was not enough mayim for the last five women in line.
They were promised double rations for tomorrow. I watched
a boy plead with his mother to carry one of the buckets. She