I visited Israel in the first part of April 2002. Quite by accident, I was there for the worst fighting of the recent flareup, Powell's diplomatic mission, and several attacks in Israel's interior.

My cousin in Tel Aviv had just had twins. I've known her since she was 8, when I lived in Israel for a year as a teenager, and I've kept in touch with her family through visits back and forth ever since. So while my timing raised some eyebrows, this was when i was free, so this was when i could go.

There are few degrees of separation in a country not much bigger than New Jersey, but my actual risks were, i believe, limited. So far this year, my risk of dying in a traffic accident there was numerically the same as that connected with attacks on civilians. Its been a bad year for both. Given concerns with the public bus system, i drove everywhere.

Israelis have no choice but to get up and go through the motions of life each day, and on the surface the traffic jams look normal, though there are guards at the entrances to most public institutions and businesses of even modest size.

I spoke to quite a number people and several consensus opinions emerged:

"How can you argue with Sharon? Are we supposed to sit here and wait for them to come get us?" Even moderates or those who previously spoke for peace are now dispirited, and nobody can afford to seem unpatriotic while neighbors' sons and daughters are dying in uniform.

"You think this is bad? You should have been here in '73, or '67, or '48" Israelis are practiced at going it alone, and are no longer concerned about their image. When several tel-avivians were decrying Israel's treatment by CNN, i pointed out that it wasn't so surprising since reporters from several networks had filmed soldiers shooting at them. They became apoplectic, and I learned to be quiet.

At the same time there is profound national sadness at each and every loss, past+present. Every time a soldier dies, they broadcast the names of the parents and siblings, from where and when they immigrated and the time and location of the funeral. On the day after things went so badly in Jenin, there was time for nothing else in the hourly news recaps.

Give many Israelis enough time to talk though and there is usually acknowledgement that eventually things would have to resemble the successive peace proposals. The people i spoke with would all be very happy with a security barrier on the green line, but until now that's been politically untenable cause of the extremist "greater israel" proponents who are in the governing coalition. This keeps the border porous.

I spent a few days in Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salaam ("oasis of peace"), a village of about 50 families which is made up of both Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. (see nswas.com) They have a bilingual primary school and a number of other programs that are widely held as models of cooperation and dialogue.

While the overall atmosphere in the village is constructive, there is plenty of tension due to differing backgrounds and circumstances. I attended an evening program on the topic of "the holocaust, the naqba, and genocide", moderated by a jewish academic and an arab journalist from nazareth. There was argument over the question of "equivalence" of national suffering, and while most people agreed that was not really the point, it absorbed a great deal of time and emotional resources.

Most israelis are skeptical about efforts like NS/WAS. I was vague with my relatives about where i was going. They already thought i was a little silly for coming to visit in the first place, this would have elevated the diagnosis to badly misguided and possibly dangerous. Still, my time in the village was very worthwhile, and I discussed the possibility of participating in one of their training programs.

Israel is deservedly a tourist mecca. There is an undeniable electromagnetic field emanating concentrically from Jerusalem, and it spans palm-tree lined beaches, rolling green central valleys and forbidding mountains and deserts in every direction. The middle eastern cuisine which israelis inherited from their arab neighbors is also compelling, based as it is mainly on native products.

When i complained to my cousin that it was hard to understand people cause they talk so fast, she said "Well they usually talk fast, but now everybody is nervous, so they are talking even faster".

In the airport on the way home, i was approached by a survey-taker from the Ministry of Tourism. I filled out a questionnaire. In the box asking if there were anything lacking from my experience, I wrote "peace+justice". I heartily recommend the country as a travel destination.

Bob Green April 2002