I don't know what to think anymore. Both sides have done a great deal of wrong. But when I hear expressions such as, say, "Feminists for Palestine," I can't help but laugh sardonically.

I do know that the group tour Birthright Israel has had some corruption (thankfully that's not the tour I went on as a teenager). My brother's ex-girlfriend went on that and found out that someone who was allegedly a Palestinian telling their side of the story for an educational seminar about the conflict was actually an Israeli. I forget how she learned about this, but the reason they had someone who was essentially an actor was to make the Palestinian argument sound weak.

There is a counter group called Birthright Unplugged (I actually know the person who started it; she went to camp with me as a kid and is in some classes with me in grad school). In this program, Palestinian children are taken on tours to parts of Israel that they would otherwise have a hard time getting to, places that their grandparents were forced to flee from in 1948.

What do we do? The things that were done when Israel was founded are disgusting. Why is this apartheid happening? I confess that I don't know enough about the situation to comment. I should do my research. Unfortunately, I have so many other books in queue to read that it's going to be a while...

Julie