Thousands of army reservists were activated over the weekend, even on the Sabbath, and called to the Ramallah area in Binyamin. The suddenness of the call-up found the army without sufficient food supplies, but the residents of Beit El came to the rescue. Over 2,000 soldiers who were called to the army base outside Beit El, and who walked through Beit El to reach the shooting ranges for their pre-battle practice shooting, found that local residents had set up tables loaded with food from their own holiday meals. In one synagogue, one local member got up immediately after prayers and announced the situation, and within a half-hour, children, women, and men were on their way with bags, pots, and in some cases wagon-loads of food.



One woman related that she went into her neighbor\'s home, told her what was going on, and \"the family simply got up in the middle of their meal, took the pots from the stovetop, and brought them out to the soldiers.\" One of the local supermarkets was opened for the cause as well (the owner of the other one was out of town...)



This reporter even spotted one family on its way over with pots of freshly-cooked food at 1:15 in the morning... (He gave them a lift.)