h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You know that awful feeling when you've just written a long, touching email about peace between brothers, or something, and it gets erased? Yeah.
Here I go again.

A strange little anecdote:
Several of us (myself included) were unable to return to kibbutz in time for school due to road closings.
Thus the excuse is "I can't go to school because the roads are full of rioting Arabs".
Do you think that would work back home?

Now some facts:
-Death count's around fifty now, with no more than five Israeli
-The 12-year-old Palestinian who was shot was on every Israeli front page, enlarged. I nearly cried. His father did live, to call the vengeance of the world on Israel. Interestingly however that particular bit of crossfire involved shooting from both the Israelis and the Palestinians, so we don't actually know who shot him.

I've been struggling through the Israeli news, and it's... very different. Can you imagine writing about all this rioting, when it's in, more or less, your backyard?

Ariel Sharon is an idiot who I personally could do without. I saw an interview with him where he claimed his visit had nothing to do with it, it was just that the Arabs were looking for an excuse to throw rocks at us. Oh god.

I have to admit, though, that he has a point. No matter how provocatively guarded a visit to the Temple Mount he made, that's not a valid reason to throw stones at innocent tourists.

The again, stone throwing is not a valid reason to shoot at the Arabs.

I think if Israel had, outside Jerusalem, kept its soldiers outside the villages and let the riots die down, it (roads closed for a few hours) would have been a rather good trade for the lives of fifty, and who knows how many more, men. Sending in the troops was a definite mistake.

Then again, the Israeli leaders aren't egging things on nearly as badly as the Arab/Palestinian ones. Many continue to tell their followers this 'war' is for the glory of Allah, to saver Jerusalem, et cetera, and provoke them to keep. Palestinian controlled areas do not have freedom of speech, and I've seen what the PA media puts out - Arafat is making things much worse.

This summer I visited an Arab village. It was called Maj'd el Crum. I remember the lovely people who invited me into their homes? I remember the nice little town.

For the past several days, Maj'd el Crum and a few other Arab towns up north of here have been filled with riots. I couldn't get that coffee today. I might get pelted with stones though. It's a sobering thought.

I really don't know what to say. I think it's amazing what men will do, what they will give for a few square feet of land.

But I think it's even more amazing how their leaders will use that for their own good. Sharon, Arafat, others. Oh god.

Nazareth, an Arab town, is across the valley. Before it got dark, we could see smoke from there. Dark, black smoke. It's kind of strange, to me, how this is so close I can smell it. The West Bank is three miles from here.

I hope you all have a happy, healthy, peaceful new year.

-Ruth-

hi. i'm from Israel. i loved what you wrote here. i think Ariel Sharon is a large-butt monkey who'll do anything to see some blood around here. he's a militant, and the sad thing is, you can't blame him? ever served the IDF?

never did tzahal, as I'm only a high school student yet and an american (at least for now) at that. Sharon makes me want to ascream (in fact he does make me scream) but so does Arafat. Argh.

are you in the country, or chu"l? it's lonely being the only researcher here...

Just a note to say I think about you and hope you're OK.

~ox

Thank you. I really appreciate that

Much the same as ox.

I had viewed this conflict with the typical detached horror. Then I remembered you were over there.

Best of luck, to you & everyone over there.

-jb

in the country. but my girlfriend goes to chu"l today! (egypt...)
i'm living in the upper Gallil. d'you know where it is?
are we really the only researchers here? could it be???
is Israel such a cold and lonely place? (i know it's hot in here, that's not what i meant!).
where are you now anyway?

I'm on beit hashita
(like the olives)
yeah I know where upper galil is
she going to sinay or real egypt?
Jb - glad to hear from you

she's going to sinay.
i'm sure you're aware of what's going on now in israel... a really big mess. i live right next to where the three soldiers were kidnapped. scary. now i'm in my parents' home, an hour away from there. anyway, have an easy Yom Kipur. eat enough.

You too

*fortunate enough to be half a world away*

Just keeping watch; I'm just keeping watch.

~ox

We all are.

Hi, loreth...I'm thinking about you and hope you are safe and well.

Always, ox

Yes... I am... but not by much - bombing yesterday in Tel Aviv in a bus on Petach Tikva Road... about half an hour after I got off a bus in Tel Aviv on Petach Tikva Road. Creepy...

That was an extremely close call, Ioreth. How long do you have to stay there? Was it the same bus? I feel like a useless sop sending out Christmas cards touting Peace On Earth on recycled paper etc. etc.

Take care, but how can one avoid taking busses?!

~ox