re: #6 Bob Levin

Of course I wouldn’t have any problem with you being my next door neighbor, and I’d gladly come over for Sukkah. And I’d happily I’d invite you & yours for the evening iftar during Ramadan.

I guess that what frustrates me so. When I drove a cab there were Jewish & Palestinian drivers—some of the Jews were Americans who’d lived in Israel, some were Israelis by birth—and everyone got along fine. They’d do the macho “guy jokes” thing about uzis and kalashnikovs and rock throwing, but everyone knew it was just joking. In 17 years I never saw them come to blows with each other. Ever.

The Arab guys (there were lots of them from many different countries) used to even make fun of themselves with cracks like, “My wife burnt the rice lat night; it must’ve been a Zionist plot,” or “I had a flat tire; it was probably the Mossad.” They knew that crap was ridiculous, but then most had been here long enough to be deprogrammed.

It make me crazy to know that they can get along fine. That both sides want to get along, they don’t want to bring that crap over here and have it ruin their ability to work, raise their families, and live in peace. It’s beyond infuriating to me that people can’t find a way to fix the damned problem. Gah!