6/11 In Jordan

I find it hard now to keep a blog entry everyday. I'm either occupied with schoolwork or social activity (with my family or friends) but I suppose there is a lot I would like to write on. Much has happened in the past week, in so many aspects of life that it will be a great misfortune to have forgotten to write them.

I would like to give myself some credit. Thus far in this blog I have tried to maintain political neutrality. My goals is not to convey my political beliefs but instead to provide a more holistic view of the Middle East to a primarily Western audience. But there have been events that have boiled my very core.

I guess I should start with this. I will never drink Coca Cola again.

So Coca Cola and politics? Wheres the correlation? Before I mentioned about the word on the street about Coca Cola. Coca Cola 'supports' Israel. Perhaps its irrational for me to go running with that rumor and swear off Coca Cola and all its products. But I must, in some way, vent my rage.

The Israeli Raid on the Fortilla last week and the subsequent news after has brought me closer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, for this, I am forever grateful for Israel. Being here to see the faces of Palestinians with their families in the Gaza Strip, to hear first hand accounts of their suffering, and to then see the news of Israel bombarding a fortilla full of aid and the murder of 9 humanitarian rights activists in international water has irrevocably strengthened my support for the Palestinian State.

Israel is on crack. To a certain extent, I can understand their reasoning for wanting to make sure that the fortilla carried only aid. A reasoning that I have trouble agreeing with, but a foreign sequencing of rationality that can possibly be disconcerned. What totally lacks any sequence of rational thought is their decision to storm a peaceful vessel in international waters consequentially killing 9 people. For me, it does not matter how hit who first. The Israeli soldiers who stormed the fortilla are supposedly highly trained military personal who attacked a group who's only experience in combat was probably limited to street fights after a long night at a bar. Additionally, it would be bizarre to me if the people on the fortilla didn't fight back.

I cannot say what I would have done if I were on the boat.

God forbid the people in Gaza get rice for their stomachs and cement for their homes. They are slowly being starved out of their homes but there's the loop hole; the people living there can't actually leave.

The conflict between Israel-Palestine and the world has occupied my mind considerably over the past few weeks. I wonder where I can find the answer. Is hidden in Mt. Nebo?

Thats really the problem which the Israel state. Its legitimacy and the source of their statehood lies in religious texts written thousands of years ago. They are embedded with a self righteous-defense complex. The state has constructed its right not only to the land that it currently possesses but also to the land that the Palestinians risk life and family to protect.

So is there an answer? How do you create peace?

I've always looked to the stars. As a child, I remember gazing at the night sky contemplating what was out there. But today when I gaze I think on our insignificance in the course of what we call history and science. Nothing is forever. The only constant is change. I believe that once we (the collective we) take upon that burden of humility, the recognition that we are a grain of sand on the beach of our constructed existence; the notions and perceptions of possession and all other roots from which spring conflict will be washed by each wave of new era.

But in this reality, I know nothing.

The World Cup begins today and I'm very excited to watch the World Cup in a country that actually appreciates soccer (football). Argentina and Spain seem to be favorites but I have always supported the Azzuri (Italia). Forza Azzuri!

Everyday this city reveals little surprises to me. As a take a taxi at dusk, I see the city at different angles of its beauty. Perhaps to me its beautiful because it looks so much unlike cities near to me. Or perhaps its when I notice the subtle differences in culture, like men kissing on the check as a greeting in the streets, in contrast to very Western surroundings. In many ways, its enchanting.

I want to come back.