March 25, 2006
All my great plans to go out into nature today have failed - the sun shining, the air clear. I'd be devastated if i hadn't been drawn into "Exodus". The narrative is pretty amazing in its inclusion of so many facts. But the break is over, and I'm still in Cyprus.
Next week, though, I know where I'm going:
Friday and Saturday at house 53 in Carcur, where Shira Tillis will be showing her spring collection.
Break 2: Eva Maria Saint has just broken up with Paul Newman, so I go back to reality.
Robert Whitehill asked me: I'd like to know who you vote for. I didn't answer because I still don't really know. Labor is the most likely. I hold too many of the Kadima people responsible for the incredibly destructive Likkud policies. I actually like the Pensioners too.
March 26, 2006
As Uri Avneri said in a letter about the elections today: IT SEEMS then that in elections - in contradistinction to other political events - the choice is between remaining clean and correct and giving up the opportunity we have once in four years - or using the opportunity to tip the balance in our country and bring peace a little bit closer.
A hard choice.
Oh, I never got a chance to see the end of Exodus. That was the part I really wanted to see in order to get the 'take' on the Arab-Israeli situation in the film. But of course there is the video. The history and the book are actually not important. Because what happened doesn't matter.
March 27, 2006
Who are you voting for? I asked Moti Sharabani. "Either Meretz or Peretz" he said. Since it is so close to elections, and what I say will probably not effect the vote, I wish to note my evaluations concerning the sex life of the three candidates, which may appear to be similar, but actually have some distinct characteristics. Peretz: tri-weekly. Olmert: try weekly. Bibi: try weakly.
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March 28, 2006
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE. YOU CAN FIND OUT WHERE YOU VOTE by calling 1800200131.
We usually do useful things during election day. But last election day I took old ladies to the polls, instead of going to visit my friend Talma who was in the hospital next door to the old age home. And Talma died. And we lost.
I have a lot to make up for.
But in the evening is the traditional election party with Ezi's high school friends. A wonderful event.
So we began our day at the polls - there were a few neighbors here, wondering why we didn't bring the dog. But even though it wasn't a big event, i had the special feeling i always have when i vote -that it matters. that it really matters.
Where was everyone? At the shopping centers - voting with their Visas. Voting for the Swedish elections at Ikea. After all the prices will probably go up after elections. Even we almost bought a car today. Why didn't we do it? Rats.
But we did go to Rabin Square where channel 10 is trying to get some enthusiasm up for the elections. There were lots of people, traffic jams (but that was everywhere) and a real mess. But no election excitement. Who would have thought that night that Rabin was murdered in that very spot that we would come to this?
March 29, 2006
It's just after midnightand as we couldn't find a health clinic open to deal with my incredible earache we asked a doctor to come over, I will celebrate my birthday by analyzing the elections. You can get the usual stuff elsewhere. I don't know what the coalition will be, or the final results. But I do know that there are two very important populations elements here that I cannot ignore.
The first is the Arab population, underrepresented because the vote was so low. There is much more to say about that, but for the moment, I just wish their voices had been heard.
The second is the youth - who went to the alternatives rather than the 'issue' parties. "What will you vote?" Linda asked a young person in Tel Aviv today. The answer was: "Either the 'Hashish' or the 'Kashish,'" either the legal-drugs party or the old-folks party. The sympathy of the young people for the old people showed today as the 'pensioners' party won 7-8 seats, more than they ever imagined. The plight of the old people in recent years under the Likkud government is well known and recorded, but the sympathy of the young for the old was to me a wonderful surprise. Maybe the best of my birthday.
Later
The doctor who came in the middle of the night with drops and antibiotics told me that my birthday present was strep - but his stories of his recent stint in capetown and having a gun held to his head in his clinic were much more stimulating. I felt guilty about calling such a man who suffers out in the night for a mere strep situation, and more, honored to know him.
