Blue Nettles

We just had a visit from our friend Noa, from Israel. Noa was one of our shipmates in the liferaft. Noa lives within 2 minutes of the Lebanon border and after 3 weeks of Kartoosh rockets from the Hezbollah militants to the north she found it so different and difficult here in Glen Cove. All of her friends are still there and every time she opens her cell phone there is a message in Hebrew to evacuate the area. Noa is finishing up her studies in Jewish and Arab Relations. 3 years of working with programs to help the Israeli Arabs and Jews work and live together. To understand each others culture which is so different. To try and change the area for their kids and their kids future..Where does she go to now? Does she have a future back in Israel or has the latest war put everything back years. Having an open discussion on this was insightful to me. Noa blames her own government and the lack of "guts" from the Lebanon government for letting the Hezbollah take root in their country. My other friend Nayla called the other day to get together. She lives here in the Bay Area. Nayla is from Lebanon and she remembers the last war 30 years ago when she was one of the refugee kids being carried on board a ship headed to Cyprus. Nothing changes over the years. Just when you think there is a chance of peace, it changes. Nayla blames her own government and the incredible aggression from the Israelis. My only hope is that their kids and your kids can do something to bring peace. We need a whole world wide generation change to all of this agression. A whole generation of people who practice "tollerance" The majority of the people in the middle east want to try and get along and the minority militants with religious conviction that they are the ones with God on their side sickens me. Jew against Muslim. Muslim against Muslim. Muslim against Christian.
I really hope my friend Noa stays safe. She is back there now trying to make a change. Whitey