Peace in da Mideast? Ha

I’ve been back in Israel now for a few weeks, preparing to edit my Disengagement Documentary. I am living in Tel Aviv near the beach for a change. I’m staring at the sea today, knowing that Lebanese and Gazans are staring at this same sea, fearful for their lives and their futures. I too am fearful for my life and future here. Last night I was able to celebrate my friend’s birthday party in a Jerusalem bar only because there are bullets flying north and south of where I was drinking a beer. My question this week is so idealistic and unanswerable that it seems rhetorical. I saw a T-shirt while walking through the Old City of Jerusalem the other day. It said “Peace in the Middle East?” and showed these alien-like caricatures laughing and cackling hysterically at such a question. So that is my question. Is Peace in the Middle East so crazy an idea that it is laughable? The more I study global conflict, the more I see inter-tribal violence as a genetic pre-disposition as natural as a tree bearing fruit. Violence here seems to be fundamental and elemental, almost like waves in the ocean. Even when the ocean is calm and tranquil, it is mere deception. Below the surface, there are always undercurrents. There always exists the threat of a torment sending the ocean into a frenzied, chaotic mess of wind and water and war. I pray that we have now reached the peak of this swell, but I know that as one storm passes, another one looms in the distance, churning the ocean waves.