Egyptian newspaper editors do not sneeze without seeking government permission. Their views are in line with the Egyptian government. So take a look at this article in Al-Ahram Weekly about the deaths of five Palestinian terrorists:

The scene as viewed on television shook the Palestinian public and put an end to seven days of calm in the Palestinian-Israeli arena. During that period, resistance movements had halted operations, particularly in the Gaza Strip where they committed to not firing rockets on Israeli settlements near the Strip. Yet Israeli Minister of Defence Ehud Barak spoke proudly of the assassinations, saying, “Israel is committed to pursuing Palestinian resistance fighters who have been involved in operations that have struck Jews.” Official Israeli spokespersons stressed that the truce could not imply halting assassinations of members of the resistance in the West Bank.

Settlments. The writer calls Israeli towns and kibbutzim—in Israel proper—settlements. And he does it more than once.

In the Palestinian arena, the assassinations were embarrassing for the leaders of Palestinian factions that had promised Egypt to halt attacks on settlements in southern Israel so as to allow Cairo to reach a comprehensive deal. Islamic Jihad, the most compromised before their popular base, had little alternative but to respond by firing tens of rockets on settlements near the Gaza Strip.

You get it? Israeli towns aren’t towns. They’re settlements. In spite of the peace treaty signed by Anwar Sadat, Egypt still considers Israel’s presence in the area to be temporary.

And people wonder why there is no peace?

I don’t.

Unless and until the nations surrounding Israel accept her existence as a permanent nation in the Middle East, there will never be peace.

Many, many years ago, I was watching a show on TV that affected me so strongly, I never forgot it. It was about a man who wakes up in a cube-shaped room, where people come in and out of the panels, but he can’t leave. None of it makes much sense. It’s all theater of the absurd, and they’re trying to convince the guy he doesn’t really exist at some point. I never forgot the ending, either. The thing is, when you’re twelve years old, you tend not to notice the writers or producers of shows.

Well, another big cheer for the internet. I found “The Cube” on IMDB. Turns out Jim Henson(!) wrote and directed it. And better yet: It’s on Google. For free.

I’m going to grab an hour tomorrow and watch it. Wow. And to think, I got into arguments with people who insisted I made it up, or dreamed it. Nope. I was a kid, but I wasn’t wrong about this play.