As much as I believe in the existence of the State of Israel, at some point in the ’80s, when I began to understand that we were not using the west bank as a bargaining point, but were intent on keeping it, I felt I could no longer be a party to it, and vowed not to go there.  I remember an earlier conversation I had with Dan Ben Amotz, some time when I had separated from my first husband, about how our intentions were pure, and we are just waiting for the Palestinians to come around.  It was the first time in a long friendship when he looked at me with disdain and backed away.    That was the first time I think I questioned my beliefs.

Anyway, we found ourselves at the home of some wonderful people last night and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  Only at the end of the evening, when we went up to the roof and I recognized the lights of Ramallah, did I realize I had broken my promise – and it hadn’t ruined the evening at all.   

Politics on one side and pleasure on the other.