I read that today is exactly 30 days since the chaos in Israel began. Clinton is reported to have said that "a period of time has to pass"...before negotiations may renew. Arafat calls for more resistance; he is, after all, an old man. I am struck with the illogic of it all. How out of whack it seems, from the top to the bottom. The Israeli want to have peace on the war spoils land they have "taken and developed into a modern nation". The Palestinians want it all back; whatever the cost. The Palestinians have no weapons, save rocks and rifles. The Israeli armies only fight or use letal weapons when attacked with same. Blood flows over land; the solution of which is a checkerboard motif of divided but equal nations co-exsisting without contiguious borders? The capital of Jerusalem, for both the parties, is ghettoized and resplendent with decades of examples of the other sides' wrongdoing. Were I there, I wouldn't be. I would fear the hand of God reaching down and clearing it off the face of the planet. Whether by divine act or human misdeed, today seems as threatening as any in a month.

Suzanne returns from Israel after some concern on my part. She writes: A.M. I fear I am doing a 180. I had so much compassion for the Palestinians. It's getting harder and harder. Especially when I hear the propaganda they put out. At least Israelis are struggling with the moral issues openly. It's too simplistic to say that we built the machine that is about to make war on the Arab world. (By the way the Israelis are very good at building their own but you mean money over the years). You are getting at something about Pakistan. What Israel has relied on is that the Arab countries can't get it together. We hope that will continue as evidenced in their summit. The Palestinian Arabs (and Arab populations in other countries -even Indonesia), first of all, are the ones that want the war. Israel is getting to be economically very successful. Soon, with peace, they will not need our aid. Many just want the bourgeois peaceful life that we have. Many have fought and are TIRED of it. Give the Palestinians some land and let them make their country. If you look around Israel it's very plain the country is really cooking. It's high tech. The Arabs are not part of this; they are poor,uneducated or mis-educated,and, not least, dispossessed(they ran and sold out and were chased in 1948) etc. Look at the map. Israel is a sliver. All the hoomungus Arab countries around have not absorbed or helped them much (perhaps with the exception of Jordan). The saying is that "they have been kept a festering sore". Even their religious leaders call for violence. They don't have a clue that they need to become trustworthy partners on the same land. Instead they have brought successive generations up to believe that Israel is the "enemy". The propaganda,the news,in schools, even during the "peace process" (especially during the peace process) showed them not to be good partners for peace. They want IT ALL back. ( They offer nothing in return-no peace, no goodwill, no organization, and no control of their people). They figure if they hold out they will sooner or later get it all back. That is why they have nothing. And they have been offered.... They have been terribly misled. Arafat is yesterday's leader. Barak (the best Rabin substitute Israel has) offered about as much as he could before he lost his power to do anything anymore. The Arabs simply walked away from the peace talks and then were ready for any moment to explode. Ariel Sharon gave them that when he showed up at the Temple Mount(Ground Zero) with a thousand guards to show who owns the place ( humiliating!). The Israeli Palestinians have been mistreated. Israel is paying the price for not being evolved enough to know that the only way they can survive is to make sure that the "other 's" needs are provided for. They need not have expanded into settlements as they have. But they did. They should get out- with settlers kicking and screaming. Now they are getting into trouble just trying to protect these places in hostile occupied territory. If you read the Israeli papers, you can see that they are struggling with their response to this intractable situation (the intifada). They have very powerful weapons but they hesitate to use them. They can't even use their rubber bullets. These bullets have been designed to be used from a farther range. That is why they are killing when they are not supposed to.. there also has been much gunfire from the other side as well. The Israeli Defense Force is not going to throw rocks back. But they don't have many non-lethal weapons to choose from. Also they know that the whole world is watching (as the Palestinians do). Don't forget this is also a war for world sympathy. Aside from the nuclear option, which is not an option, I cringe to think of all the other awful forms of warfare that may come to bear here. And it could be long. And bloody. The last thing that Israel wants is a protracted guerilla war. That may be what is going to happen. The young Arab men have been "educated" for this moment and been waiting to have it out. They are otherwise unemployed or doing menial tasks with no better future in sight. For now Israel is probably going to wall them off- allowing some carefully monitored seepage.

The events in the past few days show no promise of cooler heads prevailing. It is more a massacre than a civil war. Throughout my life (and yours) Israel has been something of a popular cause, an urbanized myth rooted in the Bible and Torah...Of the mere 4% of our national budget, Egypt and Israel receive over 80% if the foreign aid monies. We built the machine that is about to make war on the Arab world. I do not see any "light at the end of the tunnel" or political solution from the international community or even a modicum or reasonableness on either side. This is worse than it ever has been because, excepting Arafat, none of the principles are historical. So many are gone and replaced with characters that are unknown. Without privy to the personalities involved, one fears their possible personal ambition. What ego wants to be remembered through an ability to affect history unfold? Not being involved religiously, I have seldom taken sides in matters about this part of the planet. Historically, both aspects have seemed equally intransigent. I have had some interests there but only in the abstractions of events and persons in my life. But, Israel is in The Club, a nuclear-capable nation. So is Pakistan. Blood is being shed in increasing quantities. Far more Palestinian than Israeli; bringing the specter of a contiguous Arab nation offering aid to the soon-to-be declared new nation. All very legal internationally. All have reasons that are very self-righteous and self-justified. All are just a long truck ride from each other. Bringing up GWB and Al Gore. GW is clowning his way into the Oval Office and may make it. I have seen this country elect Richard Nixon, who, at the time, couldn’t be elected Congressman in his home district. And, following that fiasco, elect Ronald Regan twice. Wasn’t it wonderful to have the United States of America run by Nancy’s fortuneteller…while Ronny ran up a couple trillion in debt. Wasn’t it fun to force the Soviet Union into bankruptcy? Made a lot of fast friends there. But that is another story. America votes its billfold. As unfathomable as it is, the real question, besides what the standing President’s penile activity means to you, is whether a few bucks in the short term is worth bankruptcy in the long. Remember this is all about money that is SUPPOSED to be realized from future prosperity. This fortune telling is from the single federal bureaucracy that is never right; the Office of the Budget. So the actuality is about the probability of profitability being weighted against the uncertainty of many inter-connected (but widely diverse elements). Of these, any one could cause a shift in market confidence. The real choice is between the “here and now” and “planning for the future.” I expect the former will prevail but think the latter the more ethical decision. Consider this: who votes? Seniors, women, gays, some men and women with a sense of social responsibility and a few protestors. Seniors may see the national debt as somebody else’s problem. Women see it as only 60% of their problem, as they only make 60% what a man makes for the same work. And the evil Republicans want to take away their freedom to choose. Gays are largely silent, but mostly Republican captains of fag industries. The remaining men and women are equally divided into groupings called minorities: farmers and their families, union members and their families, racial minority organization members or detractors, and the lot. It is a lot. But, so contrived that it is possible to win the votes of the most people and not win the office. This is due to a gerrymandered system called the Electoral College. This makes some states very critical and others not very. This year, the tea-leaf-readers (pollsters, spin-doctors, and pundits) say that the Electoral College vote is still undecided. It is about even with about ten or so states holding balance to the success or failure of the respective campaigns. Nevada is one of the undecided. Nevada is, and has been for decades, a Republican stronghold. In the past few years, folks from California have been moving, like me, into the cities of Reno and Las Vegas. The balance of power is said to have tipped to the Democratic side. But a Republican jerk was elected governor over a semi-viable Democrat.