Cockroaches; Clash of Civilizations

All cockroaches are not created equal
I had a very interesting taxi driver yesterday (he spoke fluent English). I mentioned that I was nervous to return home after my vacation because I was afraid the house would be overtaken by cockroaches. He said that the cockroaches in the area where I live (where all the rich people live) are different. He said they are nicer, more polite than those elsewhere. He said other cockroaches look at you and signal to you, "Come HERE."

The Israeli-Arab conflict
My driver, Erich, who emigrated to Israel from Russia with his family when he was one, also spoke at length about the Israeli-Arab conflict. This was triggered by a car on the highway that had a bed tied to its roof that looked like it could fly off at any moment. Erich said it was ridiculous people would take the risk of that flying off and killing someone rather than pay $50 to have it delivered. Then he said to "excuse my prejudice," but he said they must be Arabs.

He said that he doesn't have any problem with individual Arabs that he encounters in daily life. But he said, he does have a problem with all the rockets launched into Israel from Gaza, all the suicide bombers, etc. Erich said that Ariel Sharon gave them land, and tore down Israeli settlements, and still Israelis are always under attack. He said that Arabs will come into towns and say, 'That land was my grandfathers.' They are right, he said, the land was theirs. But, "It's in the past," he said.

Erich lamented how Israelis (except for Arab Israelis, ultra-Orthodox Jews, etc) must serve in the Army after high school for three years. He said that he didn't want to have to go out and kill people at that age. He said he should have been in school at 18, but instead he had to serve in the Army. Then, Israelis work while they are in college (this is true -- some of my friends were actually flight attendants while going to college, and I never met a college student who didn't have a job).

I asked Erich if he has hope. He said he does. He has to. He said he must have hope that things will be better for his kids when he has them. But, he said that it goes beyond the Israeli-Palestinian issue now, because the issue is with Islam. "People say the Koran tells them to kill people," he said.

I thought it was very interesting to hear what he had to say. I never bring up this topic with Israelis whom I don't know well, but they often bring it up. A repairman one day was fixing a poorly installed door in our home, and blamed the shoddy workmanship on Arabs. But, he added the Israeli (Jews) aren't any better. He also said that he became close friends with an Arab while he was working in the US, so he didn't have issues with individual Arabs.