Signs in the Golan

Okay, I guess I've kept you all waiting long enough. It's time to reveal the meaning of the signs in the Golan that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. First, here's the Hebrew (the only writing on the signs):

זהירות
מעבר טנקים

Here my transliteration:

Z'hirut
Ma'avar tankim

And, finally, the moment you've all been waiting for ....

dramatic pause

... the English translation:

Caution
Tank crossing

Israel keeps a lot of tanks and other forces in the Golan to prevent a re-occurrence of what happened in the Yom Kippur War, when Syrian forces swept through the Golan, and Israel was very nearly destroyed entirely, something that was only prevented by some very brave and exhausting fighting.

Tank treads, however, are hard on paved roads, so the tanks mostly travel on dirt roads and tank trails (well, at least in peace time!). The signs, of course, indicate where these trails cross the regular roads, which are reinforced with concrete at those points.

So, there you have it: the meaning of the signs, and a little background on why they are there.