Few days ago I was waiting for a friend in the market, Jerusalem. While I was standing there, leaning against the wall, sunglasses, looking At the people, a man came and started talking to me, asking me what's new, how am I, this kind of conversation, like we know each other from before. We didn't. When Talila came he said goodbye and left. It took me only one second to figure out what he wanted. It wasn't money, nor sex. not even just a nice talk. He wanted to hear my accent, to make sure I'm not a terrorist planning to bomb himself any minute now.
No, I'm not being paranoid. Neither was he. Every morning I wake up to a new bombs-and-other-incidents bulletin. people being shot at while driving their car, crashed at while standing in a bus stop, bombed while crossing the street and other inventive ways to express hatred and desperation. There's only one thing more frightening than this situation. It's the way people respond to it (which is actually the recreation of it), in both sides.

Two days ago I was talking with a friend of mine and was horrified to hear his advanced theories and suggestions of solving the conflict. Needless to say these theories were inspired by events from the dark history of the 20th century. Needless to say my friend was from the victims side.

Why do people always insist on remembering and never forgetting the horrors of war, building memorial sites, and commemorating every related date? to always remain alert how vicious the human nature tends to be and restrain these impulses when we feel them arising? or to store all the ways to be cruel in case we have a chance to imply them? instead of "don't do to others what you don't want to be done to you" we suggest the opposite with specific examples and the manufacturer's instructions enclosed.

What also puzzles me is why we always relate the most brutal and sadistic human inventions and activities to the animal world. are we their fault? did they invent war, racism, ethnic cleansing, property confiscation and other "inhuman" activities" (like my thesaurus suggested as a synonym for sadistic)? are our very actions and way of being too horrible that even WE cannot deal with it and relate it to other beings?
should we be disgusted by the pigs eating all the shit from the farmer or by the farmer, keeping them like this?

[as for my one month disappearing, it was a combination of discouragement and a mild depression precedent by a 10 days meditation in the desert followed by extensive search for car, apartment, dog and love (not necessary in that order)]