Dan put a hit counter on my blog site
I resisted for some time strictly for ego considerations. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to know if anyone was reading the results of my two finger typing.
It seems people far and wide are landing on my site. I perceive the message of those who stay less than the average 43 seconds.
Noticed I am even getting hits from the Middle East. Of course that is lead in to the story.
When I broke up my Palouse street residence nine years ago I was amazed at the things we found.
One was a letter from an Egyptian high school student.
I was in the second or third grade and the assignment was to write a letter to a pen pal overseas.
It was necessary to include a picture of onesself. The picture I sent was of a six year old proudly dressed in chaps, a cowboy hat, a bandana and a toy gun in a holster strapped to my side.
The reply came.
These were great times in Egypt. The headline news of the day was the marriage the sister of King Farouk to the Shah of Iran. If they only knew the future.
The letter ended with a request that I send him my pistol so that he could shoot birds.
My parents were horrified. No way was I to send this Arab a gun, even a toy one.
At the age of seven or eight I was aware that there was animosity between Arabs and Jews.
My mother's aunt was a pioneer in what was then the Brittish protectorate of Palestine. In the 1920's she and her husband had been among the founders of the Egged Bus Co-op so my mother
followed the news of attacks on the builders of what would be Israel.
As a sidelight I might mention that I spent time looking at the archives of my home town newspaper. On the day I was born, September 26, 1929, Arab marauders murdered thirty young students who were camping in a valley near Jerusalem.
By coincidence I was able to visit the place. It was the home of our tour guide. His residence on the West Bank was actually a concrete blockhouse. The valley is still considered an invasion route to Jerusalem.
Arabs say they are angered by the founding of Israel sixty years ago.
Anyone who studies history knows that the case is far more complex and includes the perfidy of the Brittish Foreign Office who promised the land to the Jews after World War l and at the same time told the Arabs they could have it.
I resisted for some time strictly for ego considerations. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to know if anyone was reading the results of my two finger typing.
It seems people far and wide are landing on my site. I perceive the message of those who stay less than the average 43 seconds.
Noticed I am even getting hits from the Middle East. Of course that is lead in to the story.
When I broke up my Palouse street residence nine years ago I was amazed at the things we found.
One was a letter from an Egyptian high school student.
I was in the second or third grade and the assignment was to write a letter to a pen pal overseas.
It was necessary to include a picture of onesself. The picture I sent was of a six year old proudly dressed in chaps, a cowboy hat, a bandana and a toy gun in a holster strapped to my side.
The reply came.
These were great times in Egypt. The headline news of the day was the marriage the sister of King Farouk to the Shah of Iran. If they only knew the future.
The letter ended with a request that I send him my pistol so that he could shoot birds.
My parents were horrified. No way was I to send this Arab a gun, even a toy one.
At the age of seven or eight I was aware that there was animosity between Arabs and Jews.
My mother's aunt was a pioneer in what was then the Brittish protectorate of Palestine. In the 1920's she and her husband had been among the founders of the Egged Bus Co-op so my mother
followed the news of attacks on the builders of what would be Israel.
As a sidelight I might mention that I spent time looking at the archives of my home town newspaper. On the day I was born, September 26, 1929, Arab marauders murdered thirty young students who were camping in a valley near Jerusalem.
By coincidence I was able to visit the place. It was the home of our tour guide. His residence on the West Bank was actually a concrete blockhouse. The valley is still considered an invasion route to Jerusalem.
Arabs say they are angered by the founding of Israel sixty years ago.
Anyone who studies history knows that the case is far more complex and includes the perfidy of the Brittish Foreign Office who promised the land to the Jews after World War l and at the same time told the Arabs they could have it.
posted by Alan L. Barer at 2:52 PM
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