Ariel @ MindSay 
I am a romantic. I am very romantic. Not all the time, but most of the time. Well, that might be a little bit of a stretch, I am romantic some of the time. At the very least I know how to be romantic. Actually it does not come very naturally to me so I can not call my self a romantic, but I can be romantic, with a little bit of effort. It is such a pain in the ass to be romantic and I hate it so much that I say it takes a lot of effort. A tremendous amount of effort, it is the most exhausting undertaking known to man. That's why it is so unusual that I have been in a romantic mood the past week. It is such a waste because I am in a committed relationship and everybody knows that romance has no business being in one those things. Oh bother!
It's not just some random feelings or thoughts that came out of nowhere. I can easily pinpoint the trigger. It was a girl. A girl that I first stared interacting with two years ago. She is very pretty with dark eyes and long curly hair. She has sharp, delicate features that rarely betray what she is feeling or thinking. She seemed very serious. She also didn't know a word of English when I first met her. My first attempt at talking to her turned into a lot of head shaking, wild gesticulating and funny faces. I've seen her about once a month since our first encounter. I never tried talking to her again, but I always made a point to look her right in the eyes and smile. I would hold the gaze just a little bit longer than normal, right at that borderline between the hey I'm interested in you look and the hey I'm really creepy and I'm staring at you look. She always politely returned the smile, but still seemed very serious. I recently heard her talking to somebody in English. It was very poor English, almost incomprehensible, but it was still English. What really struck me was her voice. It was the most unpleasant, screeching, cracking sound that I've ever heard from a human throat. It sounded fake, like a parrot talking. Not one of those good talking parrots, more like a parakeet. A warbling, high pitched, stilted imitation of the English Language. A horrifying union of a small dog's incessant whine and the prepubescent voice of a young boy. I was stunned. Now I really liked her. Oh joy!
The next time I saw her, before I could think of or do something impressive, I stopped what I was doing looked down, then while my head was still tilted downwards, my eyes looked at hers, I did a little half arm wave as though my elbow were connected to my body and I said hi. She gave me the biggest, brightest most beautiful genuine smile and said hi. I quickly looked away and jerked my body in the direction opposite of where I was looking and lumbered away. I felt like a malfunctioning robot that suddenly couldn't control its parts anymore. None of that was the romance trigger. The trigger came the next month, which was our most recent interaction. I was sitting down looking at something in my hands. I glanced up at somebody who was walking towards me. A girl. A girl who was staring at me. Staring at me like we knew each other. Before I even realized who it was she smiled. A very expressive smile. A come and talk to me smile. I returned a closed mouth smile and nodded my head. She walked past me. My heart was beating fast, I felt nervous and jittery. A couple of years ago I would have stood up and talked to her, never giving her a chance to walk by me. Not this time. I sat there. Trigger. Thoughts of poetry, flowers, hand kissing, giggling, eye gazing, whispering, hand holding, love giddy. I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to see her ever again. I like the way things were. When I would stare at her and smile and she would get a little nervous. Now I have a very short time period to do something, anything that shows I'm interested, or before you know it, no more gazes, no more smiles, no more warbling. Like I don't even exist, not even a dirty look. I shouldn't do it. I know I will regret it. But I probably will do it. Oh shit!
Disabled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon initiated a plan for Israel to separate from the Palestinians and it was called disengagement. Sharon was known as a mover and shaker leader that was effective under pressure; however his developmental capabilities in long range planning were his weakness. Sharon was a powerful leader that commanded respect with an ability to back track from his weaknesses. Sharon shook up Israeli politics when he acquiesced to the Bush Administration insistence to establish a Palestinian State. When it became clear that the Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority were attempting to call the shots as to how a Palestinian State would be established. Sharon developed his “disengagement” plan to unilaterally establish Israeli borders. The problem with “disengagement” is that the plan called for the termination of long time Jewish settlements in both Gaza and the West Bank. Only Sharon’s remarkable political leadership skills successfully began the initial stages of “disengagement.”
Sharon’s multiple strokes incapacitated him, therefore enter Ehud Olmert. Olmert eventually became the official Prime Minister when it became obvious Sharon might never recover.
Olmert exchanged Sharon’s euphemism of “disengagement” to “convergence.” This is a different name with the same plan of unilateral defining Israeli borders to leave the Palestinians on their own to figure out their internal problems.
Enter Palestinian and Hezbollah kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.
The editors of ZionNet have compiled an essay entitled “The Empire Strikes Back.” ZionNet implies that Olmert used the excuse that of kidnapped soldiers to give credence to his “convergence” plan.
The theory goes like this: If Olmert wups up on Hezbollah grandly maintaining Israel’s legendary image of being undefeatable, then Olmert would reap huge public opinion favorability to continue to institute the “convergence” plan.
Olmert of course had a good plan; the problem though was horrible execution. Hezbollah had years to develop a cagy plan to confront Israel’s military. By no means did the Israeli Defense Forces lose in Lebanon. On the other hand the IDF did not execute a humiliating victory over Hezbollah as in previous victories over Mohammedan armies and terrorist commandos. In fact the IDF win was so pyrrhic that Hezbollah, Syria and Iran LOUDLY proclaimed at the end of the cease fire that was a Hezbollah victory.
The result is a huge dent into Israeli invincibility. Olmert’s dream of a huge political advantage to complete “convergence” has become a political albatross around his neck. Instead of shoring up support, public opinion is calling for his resignation.
If Olmert and his Kadima Party are cast out of Israeli power, what will become of “disengagement/convergence?”
Certainly a new Prime Minister would have a mandate to end “disengagement/convergence.” If a new Prime Minister ended unilateral withdrawal, what would be America’s position? Israel may be at a point of no return with “disengagement/convergence.” If that is the Israeli political sense, will Israel expand their unilateral borders in the West Bank (and/or take some land in Gaza)?
None of it is pretty picture. The United Nations has failed to keep Hezbollah from re-arming. If Israel makes political unilateral decisions that Mohammedan Arabs will largely frown on, will Hezbollah join a Palestinian explosion of violence by engaging Israel once again?
Questions. Questions. Questions. Only time will show the portrait of a Middle Eastern future.