Seems that Blogger publishing is down for the moment...

Wednesday, my wife and I enjoyed a pleasant end-of-Passover holiday. It's especially relaxing to be disconnected from the media, web etc.

I was talking to a friend who has a low-stress job at the United Nations here. His Palestinian co-workers from Beit Jala and Ramallah were not able to come in to work for obvious reasons. His friend in Ramallah told him (by telephone) that he was afraid to look out his window.

Some people were talking about a segment on CNN where some Arab spokesmen were given the floor (and apparently used the Little Green Footballs Talking Points). Then this was "balanced" by ... none other than Yossi Beilin! Yossi Beilin.. the discredited Oslo architect and left-hand-man of the Barak government proceeded to explain that Israel should build Palestinian infrastructure and then they'll suddenly love us and stop the bombing and shooting.

According to an American friend, this kind of thing could never fly in the USA.... a politician who appeared on international television in a time of war and did a "root causes" talk would know that it would come back to haunt him in the next election. But Beilin is high enough up on Labor party's list (under Israel's proportional representation scheme) that he has his seat guaranteed.