Some final thoughts on Israel

A week ago, I went for a morning run along the Mediterranean. Today I took William in the stroller to Ålidhem Centrum so we could recycle some old cans and bottles. I guess that my personal circumstances are part of the reason why I experience such a discontinuity when thinking back on the trip.

In so many ways, Tel Aviv was a dream city with its bikes, sidewalk cafes and openly gay couples, not to mention its superb vegetarian food, murals and sandy beaches. Only in brief moments, as in the Palestinian workers planting palm trees along the waterfront, was one reminded of the dark underbelly of this society and its fundamental lack of moral reciprocity.

Still, I would go back in an instant if I had the chance, in particular to see Ramallah and the West Bank. Yet, just as on the flight home with Turkish Airlines, there are all these thoughts about what structures one is actually supporting and what it means to stay true to one’s ideals in a universe of grayscales.