The Contradictions Post

Yesterday Israeli film producer Ari Folman won a Golden Globe for the movie Waltz With Bashir, about his service in the IDF during the First Lebanon War when Israel did not intervene as Christian Lebanese massacred Palestinian refugees. Folman reportedly said nothing about the current activity in Gaza in his acceptance speech. However, it must have been a poignant moment to collect the trophy for his anti-war film even as his home country is at battle again. From this end of the world, it was ironic to see the national press enthusiastic about both Folman's win and about the operation in Gaza. See this collection of headlines from Haaretz today:

• Israel's 'Waltz with Bashir,' on 1982 Lebanon War, wins Golden Globe for best foreign film
• IDF finds Hamas arms stockpile in raid on Gaza mosque
• Olmert: Gaza war won't end until rocket and smuggling stop
• ANALYSIS / Israel's victories in Gaza make up for its failures in Lebanon
• UN Human Rights Council condemns Israel over Gaza op
• Legal expert: Rising Gaza death toll doesn't mean IDF acts are disproportionate
• Amira Hass / Gazans doing their best to avoid becoming death statistics
• ANALYSIS / Why Israel should let foreign journalists into Gaza

I was reminded by Lisa Goldman's epic blog post on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's Bedouin Israeli sisters that this conflict is full of internal contradictions. Here are a few more:

On Saturday I went to downtown Beer Sheva for a bourgeouis afternoon spent sipping the best coffee in the country. Founded by two friends who fell in love with gourmet coffee on a trip to Australia, the Gecko roasts and grinds all its beans. The result is coffee with a personality. One blend tastes of chocolate. Another delivers a sharp, bitter hit to the palate. Coffee sacks are everywhere - empty hanging on the walls and half full on the floor.


Owners Shahar and Haggai said they have been keeping the place open every day even while rockets fall, both to keep a sense of normalcy in the city and because it's what they know how to do. To keep costs down, they have told their waiters and cooks to stay home and they run the outfit by themselves from 8 am to 11 pm on weekdays, and from 9 to 11 on Saturdays. They said that while at first patrons were wary to go out, or may have left town, they are now gradually trickling back. This is the Gecko front patio, on Smilansky Street in Beer Sheva's charming Old City.


During the week, Haggai has reserve duty in the IDF, and Shahar runs the coffee shop alone. He checks the news online, even visiting Hizbollah's news channel in Hebrew to read what's going on and what the Arab world has to say about his home. Here he is with the coffee grinder.


***

The day before, on Friday, a Tel Avivian friend of mine came down to Beer Sheva to volunteer with kids who have been out of school since Hannuka, in late December. The rocket siren went off as her bus pulled into central Beer Sheva and she was understandably shaken, but nothing was hit nearby. I joined her at one of BGU's dormitory buildings which has a computer lab and more importantly, a bomb shelter. There were around 20 kids and maybe a dozen student volunteers, and at first we really tried to help the kids do some schoolwork. I was giving Anwar, 9, tips on how to fill out a multiplication table. He speaks Arabic at home but goes to Jewish public school, and I could see how the different ways of saying numbers in Hebrew and Arabic was making it tough to fill in the chart.

Soon enough, the kids noticed they were sitting next to computers and the room was filled with awful pop music and the sounds of asinine Internet games being played. We managed to drag three of the kids outside for a game of football played with a plastic water bottle. Anwar and his twin brother Ali took every chance they could to pummel each other. The other volunteers and I were just happy to see kids being kids instead of racing imaginary bulls online.

***

Today I sat around with my roommate and his friend, talking about how living in Israel can be so depressing that they both want to leave as soon as possible. "The country has been at war since before I was born and I see no end in sight," one said. "Why would I put my kids through that?"

We listened to "Children of Winter 1973," a song written in the wake of the 1973 war about how Israel's children grow up with broken promises of peace.

You promised a dove
An olive leaf
Peace at home
You promised springtime and flowers
You promised to keep promises
You promised a dove.

We are the children of winter of the year seventy-three
We grew up, now we're in the army with our weapon, the helmet on the head.
We also know how to make love, we laugh and know to cry
We are also men, we are also women, we also dream of babies
And so we won't push, we won't demand, and so we won't threaten
When we were little you said: you have to keep promises
If you need force, we'll give it, we won't hold back, we just wanted to whisper
We are the children of the winter of the year seventy-three.

This was released 35 years ago. A gloomy cloud descended over the three of us as we contemplated the lyrics. Then, a second later, we were watching the "Foxy Lady" clip from Wayne's World on YouTube.