A CLOSE ENCOUNTER

This afternoon I decided to go to the Jerusalem Mall while our cleaner, Vitale, tried to return the house to its pre-Howard condition. One of the agreements I signed on to when I came was that the house would be cleaned from top to bottom once a week whether it needed it or NOT. I feel that I am in a constant state of cleaning up after myself, but apparently I am missing some spots, like the kitchen and bathroom. In the "old country" where I'm from, we called this making the house (or car) "mommy friendly", if you need more insight into this issue consult the Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus books.

In any case, I was enjoying myself while reading in a soft chair at one of the mall bookstores. I was reading political articles by David Grossman who is a peace activist and whose son tragically died in the Second Lebanon War. He is a powerful and eloquent advocate whose thesis seems to be that Israel has lost its way as a beacon of moral authority and has descended into thuggery. In the background, the music on the store speaker played The Best of Bob Dylan album and I got lost in "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." I finished off the experience with a large middle-eastern plate of lamb sausage and rice and beans.

This is a fast food plate at the Mall for $10, its fresh and tasty. It is
located right next to a Kosher MacDonalds which is packed with teenagers while
this vendor was almost empty. What a pity.

Unexpectedly my phone went off and Vardit nervously asked if I was OK. I asked "Why" and was told that a Palestinian had just driven a bulldozer into a bus right in front of the Mall about a hour earlier. I rushed out just in time to see the bulldozer being taken away and all that was left was the media frenzy. The debris from the attack must have been cleaned up almost immediately.

See: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236246868064&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Photo shortly after the attack with just the media milling around, the
bus/police car/bulldozer where whisked away almost immediately.

Everyone is quite concerned because next week is the big holiday of Purim with lots of outdoor festivals and people are concerned about the anticipated reaction to the Gaza War. The irony of the situation is that for Palestinians, the "bulldozer" is the ultimate symbol of the occupation and immediately after the attack, the Jerusalem Mayor called for the destruction of the home(s) of the attacker and his family by, of course, a bulldozer. Amazingly, Israelis don't seem to see the dual symbolism of the bulldozer and are simply appalled that it would be used for destruction and not as the intended construction equipment.

For those of you who pay attention to stuff like this, the left-wing Haaretz newspaper article said the bus was empty and there were not other injuries while the right-wing Jerusalem Post article said the bus was filled with teenage girls and several people were treated for shock.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068909.html