Morning Two

We're are about to leave the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv and head north. Today's agenda includes a trip to the "Security Fence" - what we Presbyterians are more used to thinking of as The Wall - and then on to Nazareth in Galilee followed by a night at a Kibbutz.

Last night was very interesting. We met with Eran Lerman, who is the Director of the AJC Israel/Middle East office. I found him fascinating, very cagey, rather like meeting a character from a John LeCarre cold war spy novel. Several of the guys in the group got their backs up with his demeanor, which was an interesting response. It appeared to me to be about power and power-sharing - certainly a dynamic not unfamiliar to the Middle East.

There were two things that Eran said that resonated with me. One was that his youngest daughter, who is a teenager and adopted from a home where she was living in an abusive situation, when pressed in an argument to do her homework or complete some other obligation, will say: "What does it matter? Ahmedinejad is going to kill me anyway!"

The other was a comment that perhaps we need to reframe the relationship that Israel has with its neighbors - rather than considering it a part of the Middle East, perhaps it should relate as a neighbor to the Mediterranean States, thereby giving it a means to move forward, rather than remaining stuck in the same old place.

All for now...