Winterless Wonderland

I haven't got much to show from the last few days, except for my visit to the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens with my very kind Dutch Israeli great aunt. That day it was 25 degrees, or eighty F. I spent this weekend more immersed in Israeli society than before, thanks to a reunion of staff from mine and other Jewish sleep away camps. While most of the Americans took the event as an opportunity to catch up with old friends and reminisce, I chilled with the Israeli staff, now out of the army and looking to travel or head to university. I also attended a short class by a journalist from the Jerusalem Post, who gave us all  the information we would need about Israel's upcoming election (less than 48 hours away) and the major problems facing the country. Among them were:

1. This has been the worst winter in 10 years. In America, a bad winter means lots of snow. Here it means lots of summer (Mom, can you bring up some sunscreen when you visit?) The only source of freshwater in the Middle East, the Sea of Galilee, is so low there are islands in the middle. The cost of water is going up. One of Israel's allies is Turkey. Israel offers weapons, Turkey offers water and the friendship of a Muslim country. However, following the war in Gaza, there is increasing Anti-Semitism across the globe, including there, and recently the Turkish Prime Minister walked out on a conference, condemning Israel's polices. The next government will need to face this.

2. Egypt, more than in prior years, is assuming responsibility for weapon smuggling by Hamas. However, every time there is an attack by Israel or Hamas, grows a little more irritable that there is no movement towards negotiations of any sort.

3. Jordan and Israel share a very cold peace. Nobody in Israel talks about Jordan because relations are near non-existent. The good news in Jordan is that there are strongly enforced laws concerning terrorists. The bad news is there are many Palestinians in Jordan, who are concerned about the events in Gaza and certainly don't support Israel's actions.

4. The economy everywhere is a bummer. Old news.

The decision to have elections came so late, and was followed soon after by the war in Gaza, so this left about three weeks for political parties to run campaigns. Some parties are huge and cater not to major issues or platforms, but rather a "motto." Others are very small and care about supporting one issue. Therefore, some have joined forces. For example, there are commercials by a party fighting for rights to Holocaust survivors. However, there is an old guy talking about how important it is to legalize Marijuana. Why? because this party joined with another party fighting for a completely different cause. Brilliant! Either way, if there's one thing I learned this weekend, it's that nobody is really sure who they're voting for, but since two of the four candidates for Prime Minister have already been, and not been completely honest, there's sure to be a new face or two in the Knesset. Big plus- Election Day Tuesday means NO CLASSES!

p.s. I have since found a new feature with this blogging technology. Once I used a paper-made map, marking the spots that I visited. Now, I can label the places at the end of each of my blog posts (where it says location). If you click on  it, Google Maps will take you to where I am or was. There is also a box at the top of the page, labeled "Where I've Been" You can drag the box around and zoom in by clicking on the + and - keys. Also, tomorrow is Jewish Earth Day!