In the picture: A group shot after an exercise on one of the beaches in Israel before returning to southern Lebanon. Aviel Schneider (5th standing from the right) and Oren Kamil (3rd standing from the right), the latter of whom fell in the Lebanon war.

In May exactly 20 years ago, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon. Eighteen years earlier, Israel’s north had been continuously bombarded by PLO terrorist Katyusha rockets, which led to the outbreak of the war in Lebanon in June 1982.

Because of the rockets, it was common practice to invite children from the north to the center of the country. My parents also helped. Children from Nahariya stayed with us for several weeks.

The actual trigger for Operation Peace for Galilee was the June 3 attack on the Israeli ambassador in London, Schlomo Argov. Three days later, Israeli troops marched into Lebanon to drive the PLO terrorists 40 km north of our border. I was 16 years old at the time. During the day, together with our high school teacher, we listened to the news...