(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

Inspired by Walk on Water, my sister plans to spend her final college trimester on a kibbutz in Israel. Last I heard, she is still planning to go despite the heightened alert level for Americans in Israel due to Hamas. The danger is primarily in places with a lot of tourists, like a Jerusalem bus, but my sister surely won't want to spend all her time in a rural area.

Our parents have decided to leave the decision to her, much as it appalls their coworkers. They would discourage it, but as our dad pointed out, there's never been a safe time to visit Israel in more than half a century. Our late grandfather always wanted to go but never did. He had made especial plans for visiting on the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem, but then a new rise in violence talked him out of it.

I'm not sure what our policy will be for phone communication. The folks considered having her not say where she was going until afterward, lest we get more worried. Later, they were talking about having her call up to discuss whether to go to a certain place.

I've kept out of these conversations. All I intend to do is pray for my sister's safety.

Comments

Does Your Sister Really Understand...

[publius-aelius.livejournal.com]

...what she's going to be getting herself into? Does she understand that a kibbutz is inevitably, nowadays, a zone of colonialist occupation? Will she have dialogue with, say, Christian Arab children who are harassed and tormented every single day, by Zionist soldiers, as they walk to school?

[richardf8]

I think its wonderful that she's decided to go. You can't let things like terrorism stop you, because it can happen here too, and it does not inevitably happen to anyone in Israel.