On my mind...

Before I arrived in Israel, I read the news about the tensions in the region as if there was no tomorrow, and my emotions was doomed to ride on a roller coaster in a constant loop. Yoram told me that after a while you will realise that there are not any news coming, really. Things are just repeating themselves and to keep sane it is a good idea not to drown yourself too much in the media storm. He was right. I did cool down on the news surveillance, but that is not the same thing as stop caring or becoming blasé. I have not. However, I have realised that bashing to left and right and banging your head in various walls with ingenious arguments maybe can rock an attitude here and there, if you are lucky, but it will not make a change for the day-to-day life in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

This is probably the reason for not writing so many blog posts about these things lately. That does not mean that it will never happen again. Surely it will. In the meantime I want to direct you to my two favourite writers on the Mideast subject. Michael J. Totten writes on his own English blog, as well as articles for other publications; and Roy B. Alterman, who writes on the Swedish blog Al Hamatzav. In my opinion they both provide balanced reflections of the complexities in which we live. These guys get bashed from left and right too of course and I guess that is just something that is unavoidable if you intend to express some kind of opinion. At least they both match my opinion very well and they write in a witty and bright language.