After seeing and hearing all of these things, I think I came to some realizations not only only about this part of the world, but about myself. I promise that I'm almost finished. I have shared in such moments of despair, in particular when I met up here with someone with whom I grew up in Reno, a guy two years younger than me who used to be a member of my synagogue. He has now become a very orthodox Jew, has moved to Israel, and is settling in the West Bank. One of those kids who never fit in, he now seems to have found an ideology that makes him feel good about himself and his value in the world.
Arab men are liars and homosexuals.
His views are tied to a variety of messianic predictions, Torah passages, personal experiences, and teachings through the ages. He admitted that Palestinians have a connection to this land too, in that they live here and have been doing so for hundreds or thousands of years and have holy sites here. But he saw himself as doing God's will in liberating this land for the Jews. He admitted that Israeli policies towards Palestinians were cruel but he felt no guilt. I eventually was unable to distinguish his views from that of a 12th century crusader.