Coming back from BloggerCon, I flew out of Boston's Logan airport Tuesday afternoon. While waiting for a flight I talked with an Israeli businessman. What an education for me. 

• He no longer employs Palestinians because he doesn't know who to trust.
• Police are sometimes hostile to religious Jews, citing them for walking off the sidewalk, shoving them off the sidewalk to do so.
• That a horse typically won't move forward if you cover its eyes with your hands.
• That foreign money remains the lifeblood of Arafat and the terrorists.
• That America's airports still have no security compared to El Al. 100% inspection of bags, carry-on and checked. All passengers are profiled and vetted. All passengers are frisked. Stronger perimeters around the airport.
• Unlike Israel, America has yet to harden factories upwind from Boston, so someone with an M-16 and a grenade could cause chemical gasses to destroy whole towns. Take down energy suppliers.
• That 80% of Palestinians want peace. The current Palestinian president is Arafat's puppet, so don't expect movement on peace negotiations. You can't kick Arafat out or kill him without making things worse.
• You can't give the West Bank to Jordan or Gaza to Egypt; they won't take them because of all the terrorists.  
• That most Iraqi's love America.  

His view. I'm still making up mine. Israel has always been Rashomon Nation. The blind men need to talk to each other to understand the elephant.

It's good to hear the many voices unfiltered by American big media. I hope more Palestinians and Israelis blog. Maybe an aggregator just for them? Rebeccah Blood argues that blogs and moderated bulletin boards foster the understanding, exchange of ideas, and empathy prerequisite for peace. As important, they increase the information we have in common.  

Then again I don't live in a hardened culture. How would I feel if, having blogged my favorite cafe, another blogger blows it up?

Oh, yeah. The TSA guy who inspected my bags? Reads blogs for fun.

[a klog apart]