TEL AVIV, Israel — In the months since Hamas' surprise attack sent them scattering across fields or hiding in desert brush, thousands of survivors of a massacre at a trance festival in Israel have come together as a community to heal.
Hila Fakliro, a communications student who was tending bar at the festival, escaped by zigzagging through fields, hiding and running for over five hours, until she reached the safety of a village some 12 miles away. Six of her friends were killed and another three were taken hostage. Survivors began to gather to deal with the trauma they had experienced together. On the first day, 500 showed up. That number doubled the following day. After three months, they shifted to weekly Community Day events and encouraged survivors to return to their regular lives and jobs.
Earlier this month, Israel rescued four hostages who were snatched from the festival, which Sasa said"was the biggest present anyone could imagine." The daytime rescue killed over 270 Palestinians. "My friends and I have grabbed this with both hands and we come every week," Cohen said of Nova's Community Days. She said it's hard to explain to those who weren't there what it means to reunite with someone who was in that car or whose injuries she helped to treat.