dark clouds overhead..

clouds are incredible.. they tell us stories of what is to come.. the direction of the winds.. the likelihood of rain - and taking this further - the likelihood of food and water being available with every blessing that follows on.. they serve as oracles.. floating beards of wisdom representing the recycling at its absolute best..

i was bemoaning the atypical multitude of clouds in the skies recently - obstructing my ability to determine exactly where each rocket exploded overhead after taking refuge when sirens sounded and making it harder for me to know how best to take cover and avoid shrapnel..

i know my co-regionists in gaza probably couldnt care less - given they have pretty much nowhere to run or hide..

we are hearing of networks of tunnels so elaborate that they could collapse our towns on the borders of gaza.. around one side of the border something like over 1000 tunnels for a stretch of 13km ie one tunnel per 13m of borderline in some aread.. and so the war has intensified and a lot of heavy machinery has gone in.. not just warcraft but even earthmoving vehicles to erradicate this dire threat..

so now the war has moved from the skies to the ground and equally underground into the vast maze of hamas tunnels excavated and built throughout the gaza strip and as a result the clouds have taken on a different role for me.. these prophetic objects have darkened in my mind - no longer fluffy and white they boast an angry deep grey infused with a bloody redness.. they forewarn me of a grim future to our collective sense of morality..




a lot of people are dying..




in some cases best friends - brothers at arms - exploding together as a missile turns them into coal and dust.. in some cases whole families crushed under the weight of a building that has been bombed.. in others two nearstrangers simply trying to avoid a sudden threat to their lives.. not to mention elderly people suffering heart attacks because they're so terrified.. or people perferated by shrapnel..

we r seeing the pictures.. our press in israel blurs images of the dead.. and the palestinian press (and in some cases international media agencies) is recycling shocking stills from other conflicts as well as genuine images - i suppose to impress upon us all how bad we should be feeling - and we should be.. but no one should be distorting the truth.. thats not what the press is there to serve..

blood drains fast during war - seemingly making space for more blood - more cold pulseless news of people's lives being prematurely terminated.. when i see the faces of dead israelis on the homepages of our news services my heart freezes and my brain immediately scans for recognition.. once i rule our any acquaintance - my mind hits reset - and i simply sink back into the general state of national grief shouldered by all as a common burden..

but ultimately the grief of war will fade and the mourners will have to press on and we will be left with our own morality and political reality to deal with.. will we be able to sleep at night? with or without rockets? there is lose lose and then there is lose and frikkin big time lose.. how will we map ourselves against the lose win axis..