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I just opened an attachment forwarded by a friend. I have left it unopened in my Inbox for a few days now because I knew what it would contain. It was titled: Under seige in Ramallah... what we need/Khalil Sakakinin Centre in Ramallah

I'm sure the bullying, the one-on-one terrorism perpetrated by the Israeli soldiers on the Palestinian civillians is true. Soldiers the world over are not known for their compassion or pacificism. Soldiers anywhere follow orders, sometimes with too much gusto. But when a nation is fed hate from its infancy, when a nation fears and despises another, then violence is that much easier.

There are hundreds of examples from recent history from all over the world that when a nation, or people, or ethnicity, is dehumanised - demonised - then it becomes easy to persecute them, to kill them and torture them.

Still, I don't feel I can do what is asked of me in the forwarded email. I can't protest in front of the Israeli Embassy. I know who my 'bed-fellows' would be. I can't protest with people who hate me as well. We are asked to make art works about it or create exhibitions/ concerts/ whatever.

At Tate Modern, yesterday I did a talk about the interesting bit of Curating in the History/Memory/Society suite. One room has the work of 2 Israeli artists called 'Necropolis' (city of dead/death). It's a series of photographs of things that have been both produced because of war and destroyed by it - bunkers, armoured vehicles, etc. The interpretive material says that the artists are questioning the validity of war. I think it's possible to read that from the work. In the booth next to it, is a work by Mona Hatoum which is a series of letters read out with images of her mother and text. The letters are personal domestic things as well as allusions to the war that her mother endures. She is Palestinian living in Lebanon.

All I feel I can do now in response to the current Israeli/Palestinian situation is discuss this work and this juxtapostion with students who come through Tate Modern.

I am sorry. I am usually a person of ation when it comes to injustice. I believe I should do something. But I can't in this case. Other than what I do in my normal life, in attempting to address racism - my own and that which I encounter. My people, Jews in the diaspora, are being threatened and terrorised themselves because of this by other Muslims not directly connected with Israel/Palestine.

I feel paralysed by a situation that is becoming black and white. The current feels too strong to work against, or even stop and stand still for a bit, to reflect. But I'll keep trying.

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