Tel Aviv Diary - January 7-11, 2009 Karen Alkalay-Gut
January 7, 2009
A long and scattered day today - but wherever i was the focus was on the war. Even in the old age home, where we sat with 93 year old Margalit, the wheelchairs and walkers gathered around the television as soon as naptime was over. But before that, in the cafe on Dizengoff, our conversation was all about the war. who's wrong, who's right. Before that I was doing a little shopping and discovered that sweatsuits were selling really well in preparation for more bombing.
I think it could be the high dose of antibiotics I'm getting, but probably it's the news that's getting me down. You may want to contact a senator click here if you're American, and Gordon Brown if you're British.
January 8, 2009
Nahariya is under attack. A few injuries, a few shocked, but the major point is that it is probably a group of Palestinians operating with the silent agreement of Hizballah
I'm supposed to start a long comlex dental process this morning. what fun to relax in a dentist's chair when a siren can go off at any minute.
It turns out that the place hit was an old age home, of which I have had some experience of late. This is not an assisted living complex, but a place in which people are incapable of moving much on their own. Three people were injured. Yesterday I was thinking about all the wars my ex-mother-in-law had been through - from world war I to today. Today I could see the shaking hands of the inmates as the nurse explained to the reporter that there had been no warning, just a rocket through the ceiling.
One place to check out is The Israel Defense Force Desk on You Tube.
I did the easy part of the first stage of my dental crisis today, taking out the crowns of the implants. The implants get removed tomorrow. So there I am in the chair, snorting (as my dentist says) lines of nitrous oxide, and behind the noise of the diamond drill I can hear the canned music (Joan Baez singing "All my Trials") and behind that the tv in the waiting room announcing that an Israeli officer has been killed.
Some of my best friends are Arabs, and I use that cliche carefully. The need to differentiate between the person who wants to kill you and the human being next to him is very clear in biblical law. That's why it surprises me so much that there is a suspicion of a 'hit list' of English Jews. I think that article deserves more attention, don't you?
January 9, 2009
Implants that are at least 28 years old are worthy of being considered antiques - especially when they are in such good condition. Unfortunately I myself have aged and absessed, so they came out today, and when I heal i get some ground up dead person's bone stuck in - or as they like to call it, a sinus lift. I'm telling you these gruesome details because that seems to be the one thing I have very much experience with. I certainly don't know about fighting in the streets of Gaza. I mean when I think of all the tunnels and weapon factories and warehouses that are being discovered in schools and homes and playgrounds, it seems nothing like the Gaza I used to visit. When I think of how I would sit in the little dining room in Gaza, crocheting with the old ladies (because the young ones were preparing lunch) and looking out the window at my little daughter climbing around with the children and the goats over the stones, I cannot imagine the Gaza of today.
January 10, 2009
As we drop our usual leaflets on Gaza warning its citizens to get out of the way because we're escalating, I wept again at Sayed Kashua's column. I wrote that he was courageous, because his entire career is built on his dancing on the fence - satire that can tell the truth but not 'hurt,' satire that even comforts the 'radical' reader, because by agreeing with it, the conscience is alleviated. Coming out of the satire, and stating directly his case endangers this delicate position. And i can't imagine another comfortable position for him in this society. Or one so significant.
Here's a little post hannuka photo i took near the beginning of this campaign.
January 11, 2009
The sun is shining and it is raining. There is a rainbow in the sky and black black clouds. The kassams and grads are falling and we are still bombing - 880 people are dead. How many are Hamas? How many are children? How many don't get to the hospital? How many are hungry? We are certainly winning but how will we win back our sense of morality? We say would do anything to keep our soldiers safe, but what is anything? As much as I count every one of the 8000 rockets that fell on Israel in the past years from Gaza, as much as I think the kidnapping and mortification of Gilad Shalit is unforgivable, as much as I know the Hamas is a bloodthirsty brainwashed terrorist group, i want to rush into Gaza with food and medicine. But the use of children as shields is so prevalent there I'm at a loss
