I’m happy that the Israelis have their independence. Really. But I’m starting to feel how the Arabs do about Israeli Independence Day.

Last night, just down the street, a Jewish guy went to a bakery in an Arab neighborhood with Israeli flags all over his car. Chaos ensued, complete with gunshots, helicopters, and a car-chase. I heard a couple of different stories: one that three people died, and the other that no one did, but a couple people were hurt. I’m not sure which one is true, but either way, it was madness.

As I sit in my living room typing this, I here the fireworks going off for Independence Day all around me, sounding eerily like gunshots. I can’t imagine what it sounds like to the Palestinians.

I’m in a difficult position with lots of fuzzy lines and gray areas. I don’t always know whose side I’m on. But there are a few things I’m sure of: A car in an Arab neighborhood, decked out with the Star of David, looks a lot like trouble to me. And soldiers, is it really necessary to drive your vehicle, blaring your siren, flag flying high, through my neighborhood for no particular reason at all? I am biased on both sides, (is that even possible?) but I usually end up rooting for the little guy. Over here the Israelis look like the big bullies on the playground picking on the little kids just because they can. So the little kids have a wild, fire-bomb throwing, suicide bomber reputation, but they are not all like that. Actually, very few of them are. Most of them just want to live their lives. And this is where God put them, unfortunate as it is for them.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to be quiet around here this summer. But just for the record, it hasn’t daunted my plans of coming back in the fall. I have so much more to write about, but I’m not going to do it tonight. I’ll leave you with a picture of Ross, my leader/headmaster, with Arafat. Yep.

Also, I finally went up to the temple mou.....oops, I mean Dome of the Rock yesterday. I'll have to tell you about that soon.