Our team just landed a few hours ago. When you fly into Tel Aviv, you have to ask passport officials not to stamp your passport with an entry visa. A stamp makes it much more difficult to travel elsewhere in the region.
We are planning to go into Lebanon tomorrow, but right now, we're driving north toward the Lebanese border. I'm writing this on my blackberry as we race to the border town of Nahariya. Around 200 rockets have hit northern Israel so far. Nahariya has taken direct hits.
During the short time we were in Tel Aviv, things seemed normal. At the airport, several Israelis came up us to say they were annoyed that their relatives had canceled plans to vacation in Israel.
"Tell them Tel Aviv is fine," one woman said to me. "It's just up north where there are some problems."
"Some problems" is something of an understatement, but it's telling, I think. This is a land used to war, used to struggle. The people here find themselves fighting on two fronts and military reserves have been mobilized, but life goes on.
I remember in the mid-90s, when I was in Jerusalem, and a suspicious package had been left at a bus stop. The street was quickly cordoned off. The bomb squad appeared and blew up the package.
All the pedestrians on the street applauded, and immediately, life on the street resumed.
"What else can you do?" a man said to me. "What else can you do?"
Editor's note: Anderson Cooper anchors live from Israel, tonight, 10 p.m. ET.
