Cold Manna

Out of Russia and Turkey a cold wave swept into the Middle East, bringing with it a blizzard that raged for 48 hours. Over the Dead Sea and the arid Negeb desert fell a dense blanket of snow, a phenomenon never before recorded in modern Middle East history. Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Cyprus were also hit by the storm, but the infant state of Israel was caught least prepared and suffered most.

Throughout the Holy Land last week telephone lines crashed down, water pipes burst, roads were blocked by snow. For nearly two days, Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of the country. Buildings, including a stove factory in Jerusalem, collapsed under the heavy load of snow on the roofs. Israel's entire citrus fruit crop (the country's No. 1 export), the tomato crop and half of the estimated banana crop were destroyed.

Hardest hit were Israel's 80,000 Jewish immigrants from North Africa and Yemen. Scattered throughout 30 makeshift settlements, shivering families slept in their tents, huddled together for warmth. During the night hundreds of tents were blown down on the frightened refugees.

When they awoke next morning, many of the Yemenites, who had never seen snow before, thought that it was manna. With bare, half-frozen feet, dusky children from the Red Sea kingdom romped about in the snow, cried out gaily: "It's warm!" They soon found otherwise; for Israel, and for her poverty-ridden neighbors, the "manna" was a grimly cold blessing.

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