Four years ago, just before 2008 Gaza war I moved to Israel. I came here because I was looking for an adventure. After all it's not just Israel but it's Jordan and Egypt and close proximity to Europe.
I came here to do a program in tourism and get my license to guide here. I have done that and I am working (more or less) in this profession. This what I did in the Canadian Rockies.
I think I started this blog when I first left Canada. And I really haven't done much with it. So maybe it's time to pick it up again. It's not really for you the reader, if there are readers out there, but for me.
Today a friend posted this article on FB: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/11/16/john-mearsheimer/a-pillar-built-on-sand/
I read it and thought, yep, pretty good description. And then I responded thanking her for post. But I found that I was annoyed. The more I wrote the more I realized that I didn't love the article. I wasn't sure weather to add the notes to the post or not.
The article is worth the read but there is loads that isn't in the article. It's lob-sided. I did add a note to Kiersten's article but this is what I really wanted to say and wasn't sure that her post was the place to do it.
What I wanted to say was:
Thanks for posting. It's a good commentary but somehow lob sided (maybe they all are and maybe you can't talk about it all in one article - I don't know). What seems to be missing is Hamas' motive for bomb lobbing before Ahmad Jabari was assassinated. What was Hamas' aim for this movement? I understand that there is retaliation for his death, but what was happening before hand.
And why is it, even though the Palestinians know that they will be hit really hard by the Israelis, they never put money into bomb shelters and sirens on their side. (If they have money for long range missiles, they have money for that - think of all the tunnels they have there already).
If you are interested in interesting stories from Israel, Kiersten has a blog of her own. She is an excellent writer and articulates her experiences with care and feeling. She and Richard, her partner live in E Jerusalem. Richard works for the Canadian consulate in Ramallah and Kiersten at an NGO. Heck if I can find her blog, I'll add it next time.
I came here to do a program in tourism and get my license to guide here. I have done that and I am working (more or less) in this profession. This what I did in the Canadian Rockies.
I think I started this blog when I first left Canada. And I really haven't done much with it. So maybe it's time to pick it up again. It's not really for you the reader, if there are readers out there, but for me.
Today a friend posted this article on FB: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/11/16/john-mearsheimer/a-pillar-built-on-sand/
I read it and thought, yep, pretty good description. And then I responded thanking her for post. But I found that I was annoyed. The more I wrote the more I realized that I didn't love the article. I wasn't sure weather to add the notes to the post or not.
The article is worth the read but there is loads that isn't in the article. It's lob-sided. I did add a note to Kiersten's article but this is what I really wanted to say and wasn't sure that her post was the place to do it.
What I wanted to say was:
Thanks for posting. It's a good commentary but somehow lob sided (maybe they all are and maybe you can't talk about it all in one article - I don't know). What seems to be missing is Hamas' motive for bomb lobbing before Ahmad Jabari was assassinated. What was Hamas' aim for this movement? I understand that there is retaliation for his death, but what was happening before hand.
And why is it, even though the Palestinians know that they will be hit really hard by the Israelis, they never put money into bomb shelters and sirens on their side. (If they have money for long range missiles, they have money for that - think of all the tunnels they have there already).
Why are their family's lives not as valuable as the Israeli ones (at least on the surface)? Why don't they protect their people?
Why do they fire from mosques and schools? They know that Israel will fire at the place they lob their bombs from. That ain't brain science. And how come that never gets told.
One other criticism I have of the article, is would that the Palestinians had access to the same kind of weaponry that Israel had, they would do just the same. There is no respect for life on either side and the media loves to play that up, just like a ping pong game.
The news agencies counts bodies as if it were a sporting game.
13 to 3, Israel wins this match, stay tuned to the next round of missile fire.
Yes, the numbers are staggering and disgusting. When you look at the article in captures the events like a game of chess. Israel moves it's rook and takes out the knight. But Hamas moves it's pawn and puts the king in check. And on and on.
Loads of stories are sold. Loads of airtime is committed to the event here and abroad (that's what it is - entertainment and the ad companies must love it.) A friend pointed out THAT 20 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WENT ON STRIKE IN ONE DAY and in Israel, they hardly mentioned.
In the mean time, lives of just regular people who want to live out their lives are deeply disrupted (and not just today and the up coming days but for their lives) and sometimes lost.
This won't make me popular, but that was never my aim anyway:
I think the Israelis and Hamas are in bed together. I would even say that it's kind of orchestrated. Isn't it interesting that exactly at the time that Hamas (or whomever in Gaza) has long range missiles that Tel Aviv has an iron dome? Just in the nick of time? What the hell do I know? I've become a bit of a conspiracy theorist. It's hard to believe anything I read.
Yep, there was a lot I wanted to say about that article, about this place, but it wasn't the time or the space.
If you are interested in interesting stories from Israel, Kiersten has a blog of her own. She is an excellent writer and articulates her experiences with care and feeling. She and Richard, her partner live in E Jerusalem. Richard works for the Canadian consulate in Ramallah and Kiersten at an NGO. Heck if I can find her blog, I'll add it next time.
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