Peace!

We're almost at the end of this blog, but there will still be one or two more posts before I finally close it down!

Tomorrow, after more than three weeks of unexpected holiday, schools in Qiryat Gat will open again. A lot of people have doubts about the reliability of the Hamas's claim that they will also respect the ceasefire. I tend to believe them, although I think we may have to brace ourselves for a wave of terror attacks (suicide bombers, etc.) inside Israel. I'll be glad to go back to school and see the students and introduce some sort of routine or semblance of normalcy to my life. I'll also be glad to see my teenage son start studying again!

While the end of this war makes me very happy, there are still too many unanswered questions. To what extent can we trust Hamas? What about Gilad Shalit? Will this be the last time we need to go into Gaza? What will the consequences (international, national and personal) be?

I saw Gaza (or what was left of it) on the news yesterday and it made me very uncomfortable. Some parts of it have been razed to the ground. I went into the (British) Guardian's website (by chance - for work purposes), and wished I hadn't. There were so many anti-Israeli articles.

I sometimes make purchases on eBay and frequently have to ask for shipping costs to Israel, and have recently received several (unsolicited) nasty comments, as if I were Israel's sole representative and were personally repsonsible for all of its actions. Some people were less obnoxious but still expressed their disapproval. I wonder how many Russians got similar messages after Georgia and Chechnya? However, the prize for anti-Israel hate-mail goes to the following, which was received by a friend of mine on Facebook - again totally unsolicited. I asked for her permission to reproduce it here, and she kindly agreed. Here it is in all its glory:

Hello monkey.You say monkey but you monkey then monkey do an injustice has become. Because you your pets from you as you a more beautiful. We Are muslim turk sthe Gaza muslims we firmly stand by. A Fearful people. You Are the gaza town tear it down. We Are again came to ourselves . Legs The Jews kissed,Pardon Our will long Damn You people. Take revenge God making is not always on the go. The revenge of the tribe God will be pain.Fear!!!Fear muslims. Your end of animal filth will be like. Now tear it down the gaza town. We Are the next more beautiful to set up and there he will continue to exist. This for the time being until the. The Jewish people of the fear muslims and turkish muslims come Zionist dogs.Turkish all the land palestinian. We Are All and every turkish palestinian. Come and Go in the us beats . We Are very wars we have seen. Very bloodbaths lived. The Turkish land meter showed up blood. But you we rats miracles the mandate to create a achieved. Now this good lines read. Get moving away!! Pounding to feed. We Are ottoman grandchildren. The Ottoman empire does not know learn.Because the ottoman grandson of the ottoman as powerful.Fear the jewish dog!!fear!! Fear And start quaking.And do not forget! We Are also palestinian! Each of the palestinian.

The English may be a little "different", but he manages to convey his message quite clearly. I'm already wondering what it will be like for Israelis who travel abroad this year. I guess there might be a lot of hatred aimed at them. For some further examples of the way the wind is blowing, go to this CNN poll and read the comments:

http://www.israel-vs-palestine.com/gz/?

Make your vote in order to read the comments. (You don't need to leave a comment - just scroll down to read what others are saying). It doesn't make for pleasant reading...

I think I'll only add one or two more posts and then I'll close this blog down. It has achieved its aim, which was to allow me to inform friends and relatives abroad about what is happening without having to send personal e-mails. It was not intended to be anything more than that...