Tag: conflict

  • It takes people to conflict.

    In a total understatement, there’s been a lot going on in Israel lately. People say it’s the start of the third intifada (again), while other people call for the third intifada. Stabbings, shootings, stonings, molotov cocktails. Lynch mobs. And the beat plays on: the same media headlines, the same talkbacks, the same Facebook statuses. The…

  • Fanning hatred on the 9th of Av.

    Can someone explain to me how publishing an article about which Israeli demographic hates which other Israeli demographic is supposed to be appropriate for Tisha B’Av? Why so negative, Ynet? Why stir the pot of hatred and conflict and darkness? As a Jew who studied for years and years about Jewish history, as a student…

  • In three years.

    In the last three years, give or take, I’ve gotten married, visited my husband’s home country located across the world, moved to the suburbs, got pregnant, completed the coursework for my Masters degree, gave birth to a son, grown three years older, three years wiser and three years happier. What have you done in the…

  • Israeli Consulate hosting a Twitter Q&A session.

    And now, for something new and different. So… here in Israel, we are more computers than people. And I know I was a bit snobbish when I wrote about the Israeli elections campaigns using internet tech and themes from their American counterparts. But this actually tops all that for real: The Israeli Consulate has its…

  • A true face of Jerusalem: the hospital waiting room.

    Today I spent quite a bit of time in a Jerusalem hospital waiting room; no emergency, I just needed an x-ray. In the past few months, I’ve actually frequented Jerusalem hospital waiting rooms and have been fascinated by the faces I see and the languages I hear. I think the true face of any city…

  • Ignorance is momentary bliss.

    There’s only so much I can ignore the news here when things take a turn for terrible. At a certain point, it smacks you in the face and then maybe you’re tearing up at your desk with the paper on-screen or you’re cringing at the hourly news on your way home. I’m not at that…

  • For an alternative means of defense.

    It’s some sort of rite of passage that olim go through; the idea of “becoming more Israeli.” In this case, I don’t mean wearing flowy skirts or forgetting grammatically-correct English. I mean the process of becoming overly defensive and jumping to attack at any flare of doubt or wrongness – the process of becoming more…

  • Playing the PeaceMaker… from your desktop.

    Not sure I’ve ever mentioned this ‘out loud’ here before, but I maintain a second blog called Better Than Misery which covers my journey as a mediation student. The latest post I wrote is actually relevant both here and there, so I thought I’d bring some attention to it here: Yesterday, Haaretz newspaper did a…

  • Cancel the semester, will stab myself.

    I don’t like waking up on my one-day-a-week of school and seeing this headline: University presidents: Semester may be canceled And I don’t like reading this in the first paragraph: As the third week of the university lecturers’ strike gets underway, professors are not optimistic on the chances of the protest ending anytime soon. Representatives…

  • Organizationally challenged.

    I’m taking a class this semester on conflict in organizational structure. Doesn’t seem like it’ll be that difficult; the professor is friendly and the material is familiar. So far I’m finding it quite entertaining, actually: being taught organizational conflict – in Israel – by a middle-age tzabar, a gever-gever who served more than his fair…