[!@#$%!]

yeah-- olmert did terrible things to arabs while he was mayor of jerusalem-- always expanding settlements & the city limits trying to squeeze them out. i've seen also some of the right wingers buy houses in the arab quarter & hang israeli flags as an assertion of power & a provocation-- and what is the need?

i'm not saying by the way that the arabs are saints and that they don't do their own brand of provocation, but truly they've been occupied for 40 years and that's going to cause a major rash.

when i went to jerusalem it always striked me as a violent city, flaring up with tension. i was never comfortable there. also, i have to say, ultra-religious people scare me-- of any kind of religion, mind, you. and jerusalem has that.

but i love tel aviv dearly, it's like a little new york, only cleaner-- i remember walking around mid-morning, in that beautiful light, people opening shops and the smell of coffee.... yafo is beautiful too, but tel-aviv was like.... i just love everything about that town.

anyway best wishes-- i hope you guys can solve this fucking... balagan. it's sad that israel fell for right-wing temptations, but it's clearly not working so you never know.