Just in time...

I went to Gaza for a few days last weekend,
it was really nice to catch up with people.

Met a bunch of neighbours and students and friends.
Everything was seriously mellow, there was no shooting or shelling at all I don't think.
Anyway I left on Saturday evening to return to Bethlehem.

A few hours later some militants from Gaza dug under the wall and attacked a military post. They blew up a tank and killed two soldiers and kidnapped another.
Since then the place has been a bit of a mess.
As would be expected, the Israelis responded in a pretty hardcore fashion.
The took out Gaza's only powerstaion, a bunch of bridges and civil infrastructure.
Then they went in with tanks and helicopters.

The next day some militants in the West Bank kidnapped a teenage settler, who was found dead this morning. In response the Israelis just arrested 87 Hamas MP's and Elected officials. Hamas said this was an act "open war".

Seems like things are not looking so good in the short term for Gaza.
Needless to say my mother is a big fan of me being in Bethlehem.
Still tea by the beach was nice.

Bethlehem

So I'm in Bethlehem now, been here for nearly two weeks i guess.
Things are going well,
I'm teaching English again and helping edit a new edition of a book,
so I've got plenty to keep me occupied.

Bethlehem is a different world to Gaza,
seems like a normal well-adjusted society in comparison!
You'd almost think you were living in a normal place if there wasn't an eight meter wall being built around you!

I dunno if it's been big news at home but there was a explosion on the beach in Gaza this week,
it upset me quite a bit, the tv images were horrific.
It looks like the israeli navy accidentally shelled a family picnic,
the tv showed a 12yr old girl screaming and running around the bodies of her six immediate family members.
The beach in Gaza had always seemed like such a refuge from the horrors of daily life, there were no guns or soldiers, just picnics and kids playing football and stuff, on fridays the whole of Gaza seems to go there.

I'm sure it was an accident but it does speak loudly about the disregard the Israeli Army have for Palestinian life, civilian or otherwise.