Up until a few days ago, my couple weeks in Israel had been awesome. I had met some awesome people (shout out to Alex, Matt, and Emma), was doing really interesting research on peace education programs and the social/psychological impact on participants, exploring Tel Aviv when I could, and spending time with family on the weekends. Of course things were tense with the search for the kidnapped teens and the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah, but then they kind of imploded. The bodies of the Jewish teens were found in a field, Jewish extremists burned a Palestinian teen alive, riots broke out in several cities and it all spiraled from there. Rockets from Gaza escalated and so the Israeli response of air raids and targeted bombings throughout the Gaza Strip escalated as well, marking the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. At first, I thought this would be like Operation Pillar of Defense, there would be rockets and targeted bombings/assassinations, and it would be awful and too many civilian lives would be lost or destroyed by the violence, and then in a week or so there would be a cease fire and life would go back to normal. Now I’m not so sure. It’s clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s capabilities have expanded since 2012, as they’re able to send more rockets into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area with a degree of accuracy. Given all the tension the last few weeks everything is escalating much, much quicker than two years ago and it seems like the balagan may last longer than just a week… I know that things will get worse, possibly much worse, before they get better it’s just a matter of how much worse and whether things even will get better or if the country will just totally implode. I haven’t talked to my uncle yet so I don’t know if I should be more worried than I am or what to expect from the next week or so. As of now I’m the only American still at my internship, which will definitely change the experience I have here, and who knows maybe I’ll end up cutting my stay in Israel short, right now it’s hard to tell. But for now all I know is that it’s the balagan take 2 and all I want to do is build a blanket fort, fill it with corgi puppies, stock it with unlimited Chipotle burritos and cupcakes, and stay in there watching Disney and Pixar movies until all of this is over. If you need me, you can find me in Fort Stump.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Balagan Take 2
So I honestly didn't think I'd be
using this blog much or ever once study abroad finished and I returned to my
relatively quiet, relatively normal life in Denver. And then I came back to
Israel for a summer internship at the Institute for National Security
Studies....
Up until a few days ago, my couple weeks in Israel had been awesome. I had met some awesome people (shout out to Alex, Matt, and Emma), was doing really interesting research on peace education programs and the social/psychological impact on participants, exploring Tel Aviv when I could, and spending time with family on the weekends. Of course things were tense with the search for the kidnapped teens and the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah, but then they kind of imploded. The bodies of the Jewish teens were found in a field, Jewish extremists burned a Palestinian teen alive, riots broke out in several cities and it all spiraled from there. Rockets from Gaza escalated and so the Israeli response of air raids and targeted bombings throughout the Gaza Strip escalated as well, marking the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. At first, I thought this would be like Operation Pillar of Defense, there would be rockets and targeted bombings/assassinations, and it would be awful and too many civilian lives would be lost or destroyed by the violence, and then in a week or so there would be a cease fire and life would go back to normal. Now I’m not so sure. It’s clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s capabilities have expanded since 2012, as they’re able to send more rockets into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area with a degree of accuracy. Given all the tension the last few weeks everything is escalating much, much quicker than two years ago and it seems like the balagan may last longer than just a week… I know that things will get worse, possibly much worse, before they get better it’s just a matter of how much worse and whether things even will get better or if the country will just totally implode. I haven’t talked to my uncle yet so I don’t know if I should be more worried than I am or what to expect from the next week or so. As of now I’m the only American still at my internship, which will definitely change the experience I have here, and who knows maybe I’ll end up cutting my stay in Israel short, right now it’s hard to tell. But for now all I know is that it’s the balagan take 2 and all I want to do is build a blanket fort, fill it with corgi puppies, stock it with unlimited Chipotle burritos and cupcakes, and stay in there watching Disney and Pixar movies until all of this is over. If you need me, you can find me in Fort Stump.
Up until a few days ago, my couple weeks in Israel had been awesome. I had met some awesome people (shout out to Alex, Matt, and Emma), was doing really interesting research on peace education programs and the social/psychological impact on participants, exploring Tel Aviv when I could, and spending time with family on the weekends. Of course things were tense with the search for the kidnapped teens and the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah, but then they kind of imploded. The bodies of the Jewish teens were found in a field, Jewish extremists burned a Palestinian teen alive, riots broke out in several cities and it all spiraled from there. Rockets from Gaza escalated and so the Israeli response of air raids and targeted bombings throughout the Gaza Strip escalated as well, marking the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. At first, I thought this would be like Operation Pillar of Defense, there would be rockets and targeted bombings/assassinations, and it would be awful and too many civilian lives would be lost or destroyed by the violence, and then in a week or so there would be a cease fire and life would go back to normal. Now I’m not so sure. It’s clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s capabilities have expanded since 2012, as they’re able to send more rockets into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area with a degree of accuracy. Given all the tension the last few weeks everything is escalating much, much quicker than two years ago and it seems like the balagan may last longer than just a week… I know that things will get worse, possibly much worse, before they get better it’s just a matter of how much worse and whether things even will get better or if the country will just totally implode. I haven’t talked to my uncle yet so I don’t know if I should be more worried than I am or what to expect from the next week or so. As of now I’m the only American still at my internship, which will definitely change the experience I have here, and who knows maybe I’ll end up cutting my stay in Israel short, right now it’s hard to tell. But for now all I know is that it’s the balagan take 2 and all I want to do is build a blanket fort, fill it with corgi puppies, stock it with unlimited Chipotle burritos and cupcakes, and stay in there watching Disney and Pixar movies until all of this is over. If you need me, you can find me in Fort Stump.
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