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Pastimes : Rarely is the question asked: "is our children learning" -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Sladek who wrote (1655)	12/31/2003 8:57:04 AM
From: John Sladek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2171

31Dec01-'Crats': rodents harass Israeli soldiers December 31, 2003 Print this article Email to a friend Israeli soldiers stationed in the tense West Bank city of Hebron have recently been battling an enemy they define as more scary then Palestinian militants: enormous rats. The rats, lured by piles of garbage in Hebron's streets, have become so daring they have even infiltrated military barracks and bitten at least two heavily armed combat soldiers - one in the ear and the other on the lip, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported. The rodents have grown so large that soldiers are calling them the Hebrew equivalent of "crats" due to their increasing similarity to the stray cats, Maariv reported. The army declined to comment on the reported injuries to soldiers. It released a statement saying it is dealing with the problem with pesticides and traps, and that it is trying to coordinate garbage collection with the Palestinian Authority. "In the past few weeks the rats have been more frightening then the terrorists," one unidentified soldier quoted by Maariv said. Hebron is divided into Palestinian and Israeli-controlled zones. Israeli soldiers guard the Jewish enclaves, where about 450 settlers live, surrounded by 130,000 Palestinians. Friction between the two communities is frequent. advertisement advertisement Hebron Mayor Mustafa Natche said garbage sometimes piles up in the Israeli-controlled area of the city for several days before Palestinian garbage collectors receive permission from the army to enter and clear it away. "This is, of course, affecting the health of Israelis and Palestinians living in the area," Natche said. AP smh.com.au