At Shawarma Last Night

Dori orders for both of us in Hebrew and the guy asks, "Do you want spicy?"

Dori answers, "It's for one Ashkenazi and one American."

Dante Goes to Hilton Beach

The beach for dogs and gays. Or...gays with dogs.

My Edumacation

I'm unstoppable.

How It Is

I have receieved several worried emails from loved ones who express concern over my recent activities. I wanted everyone to know that my little jaunts to checkpoints and protests and bomb-riddled kibbutzim are not how I spend the majority of my time. The majority of time is spent doing some variation of this:



Some friends were shooting a just-for-fun movie at the beach and arrived with several props. While we waited for everyone else to show up, we started messing around with the props and the location and this is what came of it.

Tear Gas Powers Snot Rocket

This was my experience at the Bil'in protest on Friday. My professional analysis can be found on the other blog. I didn't think this portion really fit in there.

Carmel, as a 60 year Old Woman

I have come to realize that Bilha, Carmel's mother and my host for the summer, is quite a funny lady. And I have decided to share a few moments with you. Keep in mind that these things would be annoying, not funny, if they were said seriously. But because Bilha is always laughing at everything, they are not annoying.

Item #1, in response to my obvious mac-ddiction:

Bilha: What are you doing with your computer now?

me: nothing.

Bilha: What do you mean nothing? Are you cuddling it?

Item #2, in response to the fact that I had not yet fed Dante by 10:30pm:

Bilha: Dante, your mommy doesn't love you. She should feed you first.

me: I feed him after me.

Bilha: Will you feed your kids after you, too? What a Jewish mother I am! Eh?

Item #3, in response to me eating at the kitchen counter:

Bilha: You could sit down to eat, you know? My mother always said if you eat standing up, your feet will get fat.

me: Your mother also used her pointer finger to give "the finger."

Wherein Lola is Once Again Famous

This is actually getting a bit tedious. The media following me around all the time, wanting my stories...and when they can't get my stories they take photos of me instead. Next I'll be driven to promiscuity, alcoholism, and driving with my kids on my lap.

I vant to be alone!

I just found out I was on the front page of Friday's paper. Haaretz is the liberal newspaper for the educated Israelis. Or at least that's what my friends tell me.

Link to my shiksa tuckus here.

Israel Inspires Fun, Health

Tan, thin, and high.



My respite from all my heavy-duty thinking is Israel and Aviv's apartment in Rehovot, where we smoke, play Xbox, and watch movies.

Photos of my Week

Some of my favorite photos from Ziqim and nearby city Ashquelon.


The menorah made out of missiles.











And, one you can't see anywhere else, folks:


I just thought it was funny in an ironic sort of way.

Nobody is Dead

Frick-n-Frack.

Something like 20 qassam (missiles) fell on ziqim today. The "period of quiet" as they called it, seems now like a chance to stockpile weapons. This is more qassam in one day than ever before. And there's a fire, a big one, which has also never happened before.

I am sitting here reeking of smoke, dirt, and animal shit.

But nobody was hurt. Not even the sheep, in whose pen one of the qassam fell.

I can hear the planes and helicopters overhead, and the automatic weapon fire in the distance. After the first few bombs, the nearby army base mobilized and sent Hamas running, so that should be all for today, unless they have something spectacular planned.

There will of course be pictures and video, but in the meantime, check out my Flickr stream, where I put all the photos I took before the bombs started: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26472288@N04/

As I sit here and think of what stands out about today the most, I realize it is how much peoples' ideals change in the face of crisis. Everyone I interviewed during the 7 days there were no bombs had a very leftist view. They were for peace and understanding. But as they survey the burnt landscape of their home, they say to me, "This is what Gaza should look like. We could kill them all in 2 days."

And I repeat to myself an idea which has been coming to fruition for some time: that it takes more courage to love than to hate. And now that I know this, I cannot turn my back on anyone. Not the men who launch the missiles and not the kibbutz victims who wish them dead. What they have in common is the belief that their actions are justified.

Americans Promote Bad Juju

I went to a tour today, sponsored by the Zochrot organization (literally "remembering") of a former Palestinian village called Khirbat al-Lawz. It was demolished by Israel and made into a national park.

And I'm like so what?

While I do not take sides in this conflict, ever, I went there with the opinion that this is what is meant by "spoils of war" and that if you engage in a turf war, you're risking your turf. Both in 1948 and 1967, Arabs lost. They lost their turf. And Israel did with it what it wanted. However, I went on this tour hoping that I could hear the other side of the argument. Because one side of an argument is useless without its other half.

The highlight of the tour was Abu Azi, a villager who lived in Khirbat al-Lawz and fled with his family in 1948. He is old, walks slowly, and speaks softly. He addressed the group in quiet Arabic, which was then translated into Hebrew by the tour leader. Very few attendees were Israeli, in fact most spoke English at least as a second language, but this didn't seem to matter to the tour leader who announced early on, "If you need translation into English, help each other." Help each other? You've got to be kidding me.

Firstly, Mr. Tour Guide, Americans do not help each other.

Most attendees, besides being non-Israeli, were journalists, filmmakers, or activists. Anyone with a camera pushed others out of the way to get a better shot of Abu Azi- a real life Palestinian villager! Their translators made a concerted effort not to let anyone besides their clients hear their translations. They huddled in close circles that did not permit outsiders to hear.

Finally I found myself wondering, why is the international media swarming all over this? The village had 500 people (something I learned from the booklet they distributed, the back page of which was in English). Nothing was explained coherently. I feel like it's because the tour operators assumed anyone coming on this tour would understand its significance. And they seemed to, but not because of their translators.

40 minutes it took to get to this dirt road near Jerusalem. 40 minutes I listened to them crap out of their mouths. 40 minutes they patted each other on the back about how progressive they are. But not once did any of them say anything meaningful.

At the mountain above the village, they paused to hammer in a sign that said, in three languages, "Khirbat al-Laws was a Palestinian village." This was where the photographers all hurt each other the most, trying to get the best photo of Abu Azi next to the sign. Then the group descended down the mountain to have the former locations of houses pointed out. I started to go down with them, then I thought, what am I doing? I couldn't understand the tour anyway and I was already starting to become bitter- that group had bad juju and it was getting to me.

I sat myself down on a rock, determined to just sit and enjoy the view instead. As they descended further down the mountain with their signs, talking amongst themselves in small groups, I found that I felt more at peace and more enlightened as the circus descended away from me and I was left in silence.

The Threat of/at Iran

I am so fucking nervous about Iran. Not necessarily that Iran will attack anybody, but that Israel and the US will fall for Iran's tricks. Ahmadinejad is not stupid. He KNOWS that Bush and Olmert are contemplating attacking him and that the deadline for this attack is when Bush leaves office. If he didn't want this attack to happen, there are a million and one ways he could avoid it. But he's pushing for it. With his hate speech and with his unwillingness to share information.

What that tells me is that he's ready for us. This will not be like Afghanistan or Iraq, where are leaders could pretend we're making progress. He will annihilate us. And Israel. I just know he's got something spectacular up his sleeve.

But unfortunately, Israel and the US are both run by chimpanzees.