Anyway Tel Aviv is a trip. They have more tattoo and leather and girlie shops than New York's Greenwich Village, and the people dress just as outrageously and eclectically as in Cali's Venice Beach. Even so, they are strictly kosher and observant of the Sabbath, and most people I came across seemed open and willing to help. My day in Jerusalem was a lesson in history, politics, vengeance and the need to forgive and move on. Other sites are just as important, and over the years, vastly different ethnic and religious communities have grown up literally right next to each other.
Fair division is impossible, and living together seems difficult, to say the least.
I see why the talks between Jews and Palestinians seem to be going nowhere. Everybody wants to claim the same sacred land and touchstones and nobody wants to give. Holy lands and treasures Even the Christians, who you don't see connected to the violence, have their own little wars. Infighting for power of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is particularly intense. It's an enormous building, beautifully decorated and extremely important to many Christians.