'The groom is beautiful but he is already married to another man'

In other words, the region is well suited to settlement but was already inhabited. I guess Arthur James Balfour (Balfour Declaration of 1917) has a lot to answer for..
Yesterday I read a very interesting story about a movement starting amongst women in the Israel and Palestine Territories. Amongst women from both sides of the conflict. Israeli women who travel from Tel Aviv in their cars, and cross the border into the occupied West Bank. There, they pick up some other women, Palestinian women and their children and smuggle them back across the border for a day trip to Tel Aviv, primarily to enjoy a day at the sea. For many of these Palestinian people, it is their first time ever to get to go to the seaside even though where they are from it is not that far to the Mediterranean sea.. [Note.: Israel & the Palestine Territories is about the size of Wales]

The belief of these brave women is that civil action is the only way forward, that breaking an illegal law will help make it become legal. It is a real case of Thelma and Louise for these women, breaking the law together from both sides. It is illegal for a Palestinian person to enter Israel without a permit which is only given to 1% of the population (Population of West Bank 2,514,845; Population of Israel 7,602,400). Likewise it is illegal for an Israeli person to smuggle a Palestinian across the Green Line. This covert opperation means they are subject to being snapped at by border officials at any point of this excursion. Both groups of women could face imprisonment for a simple day at the sea.

 

Since 1991 the travel restrictions have been heavily enforced, with israeli government imposing strict criteria for obtaining a permit. Permits from Gaza are also very rare.
On Friday I am travelling to Israel. I am a mixed bag of how I feel about it. I do think that there is something special about the movement of these women, and their refusal to accept that they should be enemies.