Distractions are Good

The last week has been full of Israel and my furious following of Operation Pillar of Defense, trying to put my mind around what was happening, find out news from friends and family caught in the middle of it and then after the cease fire came to get absolutely freaking irritated into some very interesting discussions with everyone calling a cease fire a bad thing.

It's been hard to think of other things.  

Still, as much as I wanted to focus all my time and energy on Israel and offer what little support I could to friends and family, I have a life in the Netherlands and I couldn't just make it stop, no matter how much I wanted to.  It seems lame to type that when so many people that I hold near and dear are living in the middle of fear and chaos but it is the reality of the situation.

I was very lucky last weekend to be visited by a very close friend.  We go back over thirty years and it was great to see her.  I know it's cliche but we really do have one of those relationships where no matter how much time passes, when we do see one another, not a second has passed.  We had long lunches and dinners and talked into the wee hours.  She's been there and supported me through some of the hardest periods and she has always been there.  It's been 6 years since we last saw each other, so it seemed rather fitting that at a time when I was distracted, nervous and on edge, her company would send her on a business trip to the Netherlands to bring a dose of calm and familiarity at a time when I really needed it.

Timing is a funny thing.

Last Sunday Leo and I had tickets to take Maya to her very first classical music concert.  Maya has become pretty interested in classical music.  As someone who is somewhat sensitive to noise, I had never really thought of introducing her to it, since so much of it is what my dad referred to as schmaltzy.  But Leo started putting it on in the car for Maya, as a break from the endless kids' songs she would force him to listen to.  From there she downloaded apps on the iPad where she can listen, choose pieces and see a symphony not only of sound but of light and color and of course she loves learning about the instruments.

So, when Peter and the Wolf was on the program of the Amsterdam Orchestra I thought this was a perfect opportunity to take her to a concert.  Since it was a childrens' concert I knew it wouldn't be too long so we ordered tickets.

We prepared her well for it, since the summer we have listed to Peter and the Wolf in the car, oh say 14,000 times and I've probably read her the story half that many times (yeah, I'm a slacker, I know).  I showed her pictures of Amsterdam's famous Concertgebouw (literally concert building, but it's the name of the place too, Dutchies are Calvinist's to the bitter end calling a building by what it is instead of naming it for a benefactor or famous world leader).  I explained to her how we would see people playing instruments, that it might be a little bit loud and what was going to happen.

We went and first had a drink before the concert and Maya just loved the chandeliers, the red velvet banquettes and how beautiful it all was.  She told me, mommy, it is more beautiful in here than a movie theater.   She loved that she could have a chocolate milk in such a fancy place.

The concert was really amazing.  I saw Peter and the Wolf several times when I was a kid.  It's always a wonderful show, but to be honest, I can remember being scared the first time I saw it.  The wolf was so ominous so I was a little worried about Maya, even though she is familiar with the story, the combination of being in a strange place, with loud live music and the Wolf I thought might scare her.

When we walked in to find out seats, I immediately noticed next to the music stands for the orchestra lots of bamboo drums and funny looking string instruments.  At first I thought, well maybe they have another show after this one and they just are leaving everything there, I mean it's a kids' concert, no need to pull out all the stops, right?

When the show started the narrarator came on stage and talked a little bit with the audience about the story. He was Peter and he lived on the edge of the forest but what he really wanted to do was go to Africa and see the African animals.  Enter the musicians and they played a little bit of amazing music and sang some songs to get the kids warmed up.

It was really great how they integrated this truly African music with a Western classic.  It gave the show a whole new edge and it really helped Maya to be engaged in it and not be afraid of the wolf.  It was truly great. Maya's eyes sparkled the entire show and every few minutes she'd loop her arm into mine and whisper how beautiful it all was.

Maya's wonder - the perfect antidote.

This just in from the rock and the hardplace

There is no right choice, but freeing Gilad is the rightest choice.

Like much of the world (and many better writers) I am throwing my two cents in on the Gilad Shalit Prisoner swap.  I certainly have nothing unique to add but as Gilad is about to spend his last night as a hostage (hopefully) I can't resist weighing in on the events of the last week.

Since last week's announcement that Shalit would be released in return for the release of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are terrorists who caused the death of scores of Israelis, Israel and the Jewish world have been swinging from a pendulum, which slowly but rhythmically goes from joy,  relief and elation to anger, fear and despair.

And rightly so.

This flurry of fear has culminated in a lawsuit filed by the families of terror victims opposed to and asking the High Court of Israel to stop the swap.   The media is working overtime publishing Op-Ed after Op-Ed about the swap, hailing both the release of a captive soldier, the tireless effort of this soldiers' family and supporters to keep the plight of Shalit in the minds and hearts of the Israeli government. But the inevitable questions and fear that this deal are raising from within Israel are difficult to put it mildly, releasing these terrorists will mean certain bloodshed for Israel in the form of more terror attacks.  What's more, this formula all but assures Hamas and other terrorists that the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a formula that will work.  Many people are saying that it is certain that another soldier will be kidnapped.

It's all tough stuff, there is no right answer.  A soldier's return at the cost of murderers going free?  The life of one man balanced at the potential cost of thousands of lives to be lost?  At the cost to many Israelis whose loved ones' murderers are about to go free?  Israel negotiating with Hamas?

Tomorrow should be a joyous day for Israel and yet like everything in it's 63 year existence, joy is never just joy.  Joy is always tinged with bitterness, this time in the form of fear. And I don't mean those ridiculous Department-of-Homeland-Security yellow warnings which blast themselves over the right or left corner of the tv, but real threats.  I mean let's face it, some very dangerous people are being let go and those being expelled are being taken in by the likes of Syria?  I doubt those people are going to go and become Pampered Chef salespeople.

If one of those people killed at Sbarro or on Haifa's Bus 37 were my son, daughter, wife, husband, friend, how joyful would tomorrow be knowing that your loved one's killer is being let go and that justice, as much as anything else is currency?

Hard choices.  That is always what Israel has to make.

After reading article after article, analysis after analysis and prediction after prediction over this past weekend, I can say that like everything else in Israel, this is hard, everyone has a justifiable argument and that there is no easy answer.  There is no good answer.   I am glad I am not among the people that had to make this awful choice.

Israel is paying a very heavy price for freeing Gilad and is probably risking the lives of its citizens by doing it.  Still, despite this I am proud of Israel for choosing the life of one over fear.  We all know that Netanyahu and everyone connected with this had all kinds of ulterior motives-- in games of power, nothing, absolutely nothing is altruistic.  As much as I absolutely sympathize with the families who are fighting for their loved ones too and for justice, there are just no absolutes here.  Each choice has shitty consequences and a potential deadly aftermath.

Perhaps it is because I am American and feel very strongly that the American Dream is dying, that the power elite have capitalized on the poor and working class' fear and that fear is what is very much flowing from sea-to-shining-sea these days.  Israel choosing that Gilad's life is worth making this shitty deal gives me hope.   I am so thankful that Israel is not a nation which will let fear drive the car, that even though this deal erodes justice, that sometimes the life and safety of one person are more important.

I am proud that Israel is still a country that values the one and that they are a country that will make a crazy and potentially dangerous deal like this to save one soldier.

That One Little thing......

I totally admit it, I was swept up in Obama fervor. I was a Hillary supporter but when Obama started to pull ahead in the primaries I was taken in by his charm, his great communication skills, his accomplishments and the idea that change was possible. Like many liberally minded Americans, I was disgusted by what had become of America in the Bush years. I readily admitted that Bush had probably faced the worst challenges in his first term as President since FDR. Unlike FDR he did not take those proverbial lemons and make lemonade, instead he made sour milk. US standing in the world in shambles, anti-American sentiment on the streets, the economy crumbling and promises of more of the same with McCain and it was very easy for me to pitch my tent in Obama's camp. OK, I know this was kind of a fluff review, but you get the idea.


One of my favorite Obama campaign spots was from something called The Great Schlep which was a very funny ad targeted at Jews to vote for Obama in Florida. You can see the spot here.


Like in this ad, the one thing that bothered me about Obama was his stance on Israel in that it was hard to tell whether or not he would support the special relationship between Israel and the United States. His name scared me off and his stance on Israel seemed unclear but as a liberal and a candidate of fighting for what is just and right, I shrugged off my lingering doubts and supported him full steam ahead. Actually I was not so excited for the American future since the Clinton era. So, like many Hillary supporters I gave my vote to Obama.


So, he's elected in a sweeping victory and the first year I think he has done fairly well and is obviously not afraid to tackle tough domestic issues like health care. Yes! Economic stimulus package; Yes! Closing Guantanamo Bay; Yes! Health care reform. Despite the blogosphere and Fox news going nuts, I was feeling good about my choice.




Now after nearly a year and a half in office that one little thing is starting to chirp and make noise and it's getting louder. Obama's policies toward Israel are coming at me like a prophecy and as much as I am trying to take a balanced view and not go off the deep end, because I want to love this guy. I want this guy to be the best thing since FDR and sliced bread but it's getting harder and harder.


Obama spent most of the first year of his Presidency focused on domestic issues, which no matter if you agree with him on his policies or not was the right thing to do. The economy was in shambles, and although the President cannot control this directly I do think he took good measures. Then he decided to tackle health care. I have a lot of friends and readers of my blog who are against Obama's health care policies and I am not going to discuss that here.


Meanwhile in the Israeli press, AIPAC, Jewish groups the world over started noticing that the Obama administration was not really backing up its campaign promises toward Israel and not really doing much to get direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis started again. This started to become more of an issue in the press as time went on. Hillary Clinton had been to the region a few times but nothing concrete or substantial came out of those visits. President Clinton had been a huge friend to Israel and tried throughout his two terms in office to hammer out a final agreement, but ultimately those talks failed when Yasser Arafat rejected a 1997 proposal by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to declare a Palestinian State (leaving the issues of refugees and the final status of Jerusalem (the two openly most contentious issues)) open for a 2-3 year period and then to be finally negotiated. When Obama asked Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State I thought, okay, I am not sure about Obama's stance on Israel but Hillary is definitely pro-Israel, therefore the peace process is in good hands. So, I put aside my misgivings. Still not much happened in Obama's first year and while the press and Jewish groups were railing about it I was not overly concerned, feeling rightly that Obama needed to focus on the home front.


I am a firm believer that the US is needed for real progress to be made toward a final agreement The US needs to be involved in talks and sponsor them in order for the parties to get to the table and actually start talking. Every bit of progress which has been made has followed this formula and it is necessary. It requires the actions and involvement of the President and not just the Secretary of State and Special Envoys. Israel and the US have shared a special relationship among nations and the US is probably the only nation that has stood behind Israel in it's 60 some odd years of statehood. I truly believe that the US is the only nation which truly believes in Israel's right to exist. Other countries are either neutral or tolerant. Even the EU which openly supports Israel's right to exist policy wise, still they quickly condemn Israel when it suits them. I am not an authority on this, but many Europeans I have come in contact with are anti-Israel, they voice that they are Pro-Palestinian, but they see Israel as the aggressor always and believe that what is primary is that the "Occupation" ends and Israel's need for security is secondary. I sometimes wonder if being Pro-Palestinian is now a politically acceptable form of being anti-semitic. OK, not going to descend into that, maybe a post for another time.


Let me be clear in saying that I am absolutely for a Palestinian State. I have lived in Israel and belong to the political party Meretz, which is a little left of my own politics but is the party in Israel that appealed to me the most on many issues. The Palestinians deserve their own state. They have a justifiable claim to the land and have the right to control their own destinies. Although the giving up of land in exchange for peace is never easy for Israel, still it is a necessary step and one which needs to happen. Israel grieved when they had to pull out of Sinai to make peace with Egypt and will grieve one day when they need to pull out of the West Bank too in order to give the Palestinians their state.Difficult for Israel, but without a doubt, absolutely necessary.


Still, all this giving up of land must require something on the Palestinian side When Israel pulled out of Sinai in order to make peace with Egypt, Egypt agreed not to attack and to maintain a peaceful border with Israel. In 33 years there has never been one incident.  That is not to say that the Israelis and Egyptians share a great love for one another, they have a difficult history and have been enemies in war, killing one another for many decades.  This leaves it's marks.  Like a surgical scar, which will stop hurting, the redness will go away, it will fade somewhat  Still when you see it or touch it, you remember the pain you were in.  This is how it is with Israel and Egypt.  Many Israelis love to vacation in Sinai, with it's unspoiled beaches, cheap Bedouin way of life and gorgeous reefs of the Red Sea.  Every time I crossed into Sinai from Israel, there was no great love for me at the border, but still in 33 years there has not been a single incident between Israel and Egypt.  One of my Israeli friends once said to me on the topic "it is not love, but it is peace."


Israel will not accept less from the Palestinians (and in my mind shouldn't).  If they can guarantee peace to Israel, Israel will withdraw, although not without some protests of the religious right (who by the way include an overwhelming amount of  American Jews, many of whom were not raised as religious but became religious and in many cases fundamentalist).  It will sting, but Israel would suck it up.  But Israel needs assurances from the Palestinans that if Israel leaves the West Bank that Gaza will stop shooting rockets into southern Israel and that terrorists will stop taping explosives to their vests, hop a ride into Israel and blow up innocent people while they sit on the street and have cappucinos.  This means also that the Palestinians need to seek out and punish terrorist cells in it's midst and publicly condemn terrorism against Israel.  Not an easy order for them with Hamas at the helm and a population who for decades is feeling oppressed by the Occupation of the enemy that they feel stole their land.  I am simplfying things for the sake of argument, but to me, that is the actual crux of what needs to happen.  You may disagree, but hell, it is my blog.  You want to argue, get your own blog.


I totally agree in the land for peace formula but I do find it interesting that most of the world sees Israel as illegally occupying this land.  Although to be honest, this was land which was won in war and which land Israel did not invade (actually it was Israel that was invaded).  I try to not let my mind descend into this but I sometimes wonder if the West Bank was Texas if the world would be screaming about illegally occupied land.  After all Texas was won and annexed to the US after the Mexican American war.  If this were not about Israel, the Jewish state would the world be screaming and is this yet again anti-semitism rearing it's head?


What Obama is doing now that he has chosen to finally do something is not anywhere in the neighborhood of achieving what needs to be achieved.  He is trying to get the Palestinians to the table by giving them lots of assurances on Israel's back.  He has guaranteed them a state within two years, although after those articles appeared Obama started pulling back on this and now is reiterating (probably after pressure from Jewish groups and negative press) his support for Israeli security.  He has also supported making the middle east a nuclear free zone, all the while refusing to impose sanctions on Iran and now  without saying it head on, threatening to put pressure on Israel's own nuclear program, which let's face it is the primary reason why Israel has not been attacked by its neighbors.  He is even making promises to the Palestinians that the US will negotiate a settlement on their behalf.  Of course the Palestinians would be hugely in favor of that, because they would not even be required to sit at the  table and would not have to concede to anything.  A total Palestian win-win.


I hate to say it or even think it, but Obama may just end up being the best friend of the Palestinians. 


Now I am not going to argue the validity or invalidity of any of these actions on the part of the Obama administration, but it does seem to my way of thinking that Obama is expecting to pressure the Israelis while requiring the Palestinians to do next to nothing to achieve their state. I hate to tell him that is not going to work.  The majority of Israelis want peace and are in favor of creating a Palestinian state and are even willing to make some hard sacrifices in order to do it.  What Israel is not going to do is roll over and play dead while the Palestinians have to offer no assurances while at the same time Obama Israel under his thumb.  Israel needs the US and the special relationship they have without a doubt, but they never have and never will sacrifice their own security interests for that.  I think that is a lesson Obama has yet to learn.  A blog which I follow pretty regularly and who has a great article on this is called Obama:  Waging War Against Israel on all Fronts. Now I don't always agree with this guy on everything but his articles are always interesting and thought provoking.


I do think Obama's current method is to try and do anything to get the Palestinians to the table and he is making grand gestures and assurances without considering Israel's needs in this.   I do believe this will backfire. Not only will he not achieve anything substantial in the way of peace talks but eventually he will lose the trust of the Palestinians after he shows them his promises are empty.  I am of course most curious why he is choosing to handle things this way.  Is it his inexperience in foreign affairs?  Maybe he is approaching this academically and thinks if he can just get the Palestinians to the table, he can deal with the rest and then allay the fears of Israel.  Does he really think that Israel will just lay down and make peace at any price?  I find it hard to believe that someone as intelligent as he is could not understand this.  Or is it because accomodating the Palestinians and pressuring the Israelis might be a way to help him realize his own interests.  If he gets the Israelis to lay down, he might get somewhere with Iran.  If he gets them to roll over and play dead, he might be able to help things in Iraq and Afghanistan and put American soldiers at less risk.  There is a school of thought out there that Al Qaeda and its brothers in arms target America because (at least in part) of its support of Israel and if Obama turns into the BFF of the Palestinians, this might help in the war against terror.  I am not even going to get started on how the rest of the Arab world treats the Palestinians like the poor stepsister of the Arab World.  I think they honestly do not care about the Palestinian situation except that it helps them to keep Israel as an enemy because what is at the heart of this, is not land or peace, but good old fashioned hatred.


If Obama's logic is really to put the pressure on Israel which will in some twisted logic serve American interests by making America less of a target of Islamic fundamentalists, thereby lessening the threat of terrorists against America or American interests, then I think this is the most scary logic of all because it pits American interests against Israeli interests.  Israel cannot make peace without American support and brokerage. If American interests are to ultimately force Israel to accept peace at any price, then Israel cannot afford to pay the tab.


I really hope with everything that I am that Obama is showing his inexperience because I really want to love this guy.  As time goes on though I wonder what is ultimately behind Obama's policies in the middle east.  Please let it be naivete.  I hope so, because naivete I can excuse, viewing the situation simply I can also excuse.  Is it policy or was that nagging feeling that I, and many Obama supporting Jews have wondered about these last couple of years and have tried to bury as paranoia.  Is it policy or anti-semitism disguised as policy.  What I hate the most about that thought is not the anti-semitism part, but the part of Obama that turns me into one of those paranoid Jews who sees anti-semitism around every corner. I don't think I will be able to excuse that.


Does anyone else need a drink?

I should be cleaning.......

Maybe it is because we are in the rhythm of the Jewish holiday cycle, Purim has just passed and we are now in the run off to Passover, the grandaddy-of-them-all of Jewish holidays as far as I am concerned, particularly if you can get past the idea of having to give up bread for 8 days.  Like some sort of tidal clock, my head is  full of Seder details.  I always do the Seder in our family, partially because the Dutch version (or at least the one I attended at my mil's) of the Seder doesn't seem to have the pageantry and grandeur that I love.  Not that I am saying that the Seder I grew up with was by-the-book, but Passover definitely was something out of the ordinary in our house and my husband's family do not enjoy breaking with their routines very much to embrace the essence of Passover (although secretly I do see them enjoying themselves a little bit during the Seder).


So, anyhow, every year I try to channel my mother and grandmother and try to outdo myself in preparing a festive holiday for whomever is around our table.  Our Jewish holiday tables are always an interesting hodge-podge of people.  While growing up our Seder table consisted of the same people every year, but ours is always a sort of grab-bag on who might be there.  Sometimes it is just us and my inlaws and sometimes we have 15 people around the table, so it is always a surprise, some years my brother in law and his family or my sister in law and her family come from Israel, somtimes not.  This year we are looking at my inlaws, probably one of their friends, a third cousin of mine who is studying in Amsterdam and a friend of mine from work.  So probably for the next two weeks at least I will be playing meal choices in my head (well my main courses do not change, only my vegetables, salads and other side dishes) and I will again curse myself for not being able to make a good sweet potato recipe (and I don't mean those Thanksgiving varieties with marshmallows, gummy bears and chocolate chips in a strudel) but a good basic roasted sweet potato, for some reason I cannot perfect this (standing rib roast, yes, cheese souflle, yes, sweet potato, no).


Passover is followed in short order by Israel's memorial day (Yom ha Zicharon) and Israel's Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut).  Together I call these the holiday trifecta and they always put me in a wistful mood.  I like this time of year, because it recalls stories of Jewish heroism, yet doesn't forget the struggles and ordeals of the past.  The Jewish memory is long and it is very much part of Jewish life to take the bitter with the sweet.  That's what I love about a lot Jewish holidays, they are largely filled with both.  That's why we eat bitter herbs at Passover, but then eat also sweet charoses, right?  I'm generalizing I know, so please don't beat me with your haggadahs, or hurl a matzoh ball my way.


Anyway as usual I am getting off point.  What was the point?  Oh yeah, preparing for Passover.  Anyway, all these thoughts about table settings, what to prepare, etc. always gets me thinking a lot about Israel, which was my home for 5+ years.  I loved the seders I spent in Israel, largely just because of the sheer variety of experiences I had which were on the one hand so different from mine, but yet had some common threads to my Western Pennsylvania Passovers from home.  I've spent Passover on kibbutz, with a Sephardic family (where they actually ritually slaughtered a sheep) and with my neighbors, who had seder for about 40 people using two apartment sized kitchens, where the singing and festivities lasted until 3 AM.  Good memories all.


So I have been thinking a lot the last few days about the time I spent living in Israel (I think what I am really doing is avoiding doing my pre-Passover cleaning).  I must say that those 5 years were in many ways the most adventurous, fulfilling and satisfying years of my life. I found my independence in Israel, I struggled there in the beginning but found my way all on my own.  I learned a new language.  I made wonderful friends and everything I accomplished there was due to no one but me.  Everything I cherish now (Leo and Maya) come from that one decision to leave everything that was familiar to me and everyone who represented security to me to go to a place which had always been in my mind, thanks to my Zionist father and grandparents, my magna-cum-Jewish youth group background, complete with Zionist summer camps, a lighthouse, a place that represented the pinnacle of struggle, freedom and heroism.


My 5 years there made me face the real Israel, which was not quite the Israel of my dreams inspired by summer camp singalongs, eating hamentaschen and going to Shabbat Services, but nonetheless, still special, magnificient and beautiful in their own right. Amos Oz says it much better than I.  The following is a quote from the very end of one of his books, which I only truly understood after I re-read this book for about the 10th time after I had been living in Israel a few years. This ias the Israel I came to know, and love just the same (or maybe even more) than my idyllic Zionist fantasy.

...Not the land of our forefathers glory and not days of yore but simply the State of Israel.....Not "the land of the hart (sic)" and not "the divine city reunited" as the cliches would have it but simply the State of Israel.  Not the "Maccabeans reborn" that Herzl talked of, but a warm hearted, hot-tempered Mediterranean people that is gradually learning through great suffering and in a tumult of sound and fury, to find release both from the bloodcurdling nightmares of the past and from delusions of grandeur, both ancient and modern; gradually learning to cling to what it has managed to build here over the course of one hundred difficult years, despite the "sand and the enemies", as the man from Ashdod put it.  Gradually learning to hold on by its fingernails to what there is.  Are we gradually learning, or perhaps not?  But we should learn.  And what is, at best, is the city of Ashdod.  A pretty city and to my mind a good one, this Ashdod.  And she is all that we have that is our own.  Even in culture and in literature:  Ashdod.  All those who secretly long for the charms of Paris or Vienna, for the Jewish shtetl or for heavenly Jerusalem:  do not cut loose from those longings-for what are we without our longings?-but let's remember that Ashdod is what there is.  And she is not quite the grandiose fulfillment of the vision of the Prophets and of the dream of generations; not quite a world premiere, but simply a city on a human scale.  If only we try to look her with a calm eye, we will surely not be shamed or disappointed.

-Amos Oz, In the Land of Israel

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain as better underastasnding of Israel and the Israeli psyche.


Many friends and relatives ask me my views on the Middle East, mostly because I have the experience of living in Israel and they want to have more of an intimate view than what they read in Time Magazine.  Honestly, since I left Israel 8 years ago, I make it a habit not to follow things too closely anymore.  Mostly because a lot of what I read or see pisses me off because, whichever way it leans (both pro and anti Israel) cannot truly capture the multi-layered, extremely complex nature of the situation.  Also I think because reading stuff on Israel always inevitably leads me to look for subliminal anti-semitic messages in everything and I don't enjoy that kind of paranoia (particularly because I am suceptible to it).  Particularly in Europe where Pro-Palestinian sentiment runs much higher than in the US and where Israel is seen largely as an occupier, a violator of human rights.  Thias view is diametrically opposed to the mainstream American view which is quite the opposite.  Most Americans are pro-Israel, Israel is seen as the only democracy in an otherwise autocratic Arab world which subjugates its people and whose most fervent and fanatical believers are an enemy.  One example to illustrate my avoidance/paranoia.  My office which has no collective political opinion on the conflict, has a cafeteria in the basement.  The window blinds which have been chosen by my office are the kind which are sort of a sliding door type of blind which have maps of various cities and countries on them.  One of the maps is of Europe and the Middle East, and the map which has been illustrated on this panel is one which is from shows Jerusalem as part of Palestine and not Israel.  Now do I think my office was trying to make some sweeping statement with this?  Not at all. They (or their interior designers) picked out window coverings which would be appropriate for this room).  Were the people who made these blinds anti-semites, did they purposely choose this map of Israel?  I don't know for sure, but I can tell you this.  That map and that thought has occupied me while I am eating lunch more times than I would like to admit.  See?  Easy, therefore I try to avoid reading too much, or reading too much into things because it is a spiral or maybe a merry-go-round, anyway, it is ride I don't wish to go on.


I don't think my years living in Israel fundamentally changed my point of view on the Middle East conflict but it did open my eyes to a greater understanding of the complexities of the situation. Although traditionally left-winged (in a Labor-Meretz kind of way) All sides have legitimate claims to the land which can be argued to kingdom come.  Religious claims to Jerusalem at least become more difficult I think for the Muslim world to claim (even though they are claimed and I am not even going to go there with my opinion on that as many other people out there in cyberspace have cornered this market and argue more effectively on both sides better than I).  Now, I admit that while fundamentally my opinion as to what the solution is to this conflict never really changes, although depending on the happenings of the moment I can lean more to the left or slightly more to the right (particularly at times when Israel is being vilified in the press for defending itself from attack).  By slightly, I mean slightly, I will never be a fan of Bibi Netanyahu or Arik Sharon, however, I do recognise that Israel has the right to defend itself and to ensure its security and I do feel that if they did not take the preventive or even reactive measures that they do, Israel would be the recipient of many more catastrophic attacks from its neighbors.  It is only because Israel is pre-emptive that the peace with Egypt and Jordan holds.  I truly believe that.


So, what do I believe?  It comes down to three basic principles for me:


1.  I believe in a two state solution.  The Palestinians should have their own state and the chance to fulfil their own destiny (although I am not comfortable at all with Hamas being at the head of that State).  I am also okay with abandoning the settlements on the West Bank, although I understand how painful it is to do that, but to bring this about, it is an absolute necessary step.  It was necessary to bring about the peace with Egypt and is necessary to bring peace with the Palestinians. 


2.  Israel has to live in true peace and security from its neighbors. 


3.  Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel, and I would be okay with dividing Jerusalem and giving East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as the capital of their state (although I truly believe their reasons for this are political and not religious), provided that the Palestinians, and other Arab states respect and recognize Israel's right to exist and stop funding terrorist organisations that promote the destruction of Israel.


Do I think these three principles will ever come to pass?  I don't know.  My thoughts on the matter is that there are special moments in time in which peace has a chance to flourish, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.  One of these moments in time brought about the Camp David Accords.  Another moment in time culminated in the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.  


Who's to say when that next moment will be and what will become of it?