I Hear that Andromeda Hill is a Lovely Place to Live...

So, after 18 years in prison, Mordechai Vanunu has been released. The events surrounding Israel's most famous prisoner border on the absurd. Let's look at the acts, shall we? Our fellow went to work at the nuclear power plant in Dimona, signing agreements promising not to play show and tell with regard to his new day job. Apparently, following a bit of conscience wrestling, the gentleman in question decided that he simply could not live up to his end of the agreement, and spilled some very impressive beans to a foreign newspaper, sharing Israel's naughty little secrets with the world.

Understandably, the powers that be felt anger with the traitor in their midst, and rightly so, I'd like to add. As I imagine most democratic nations would do in the same circumstances, they retrieved the rebel of the month from his travels in Europe, tried and convicted him.

During the course of his jail time, Mr Vanunu did not shown any regret for possibly compromising state security, and the decision to keep him disconnected from the outside world certainly seems justified. Israel-bashers everywhere have turned our friend Mordechai into a cause celebre, even going so far as to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize (which would have placed him in such esteemed company as that great fighter for peace, Yasser Arafat, but we'll leave him for another blog entry...). At some point during the incarceration, our chap converted to Christianity. By no means a crime, and certainly not disturbing in and of itself. People convert to different religions all the time, including a number of my friends. I've also got no problem with other religions, as my non-Jewish friends will tell you, having spent many a happy Christmas season back in the US helping my best friend and her family decorate their Christmas tree, and even going to Midnight Mass one year just to see what it was like (a very pleasant experience, though I politely declined the opportunity to "drink the wine and chew the wafer", as Tom Lehrer suggested in "The Vatican Rag"). But, back to our story at hand. Mordechai claims that he was persecuted in prison by the staff because of his religion. Nice sob story, but frankly, I'd be more inclined to believe that they just weren't too keen on our little traitor friend.

Fast forward 18 years, and Mordechai Vanunu is now a "free" man. Okay, maybe he's no longer in prison, but given all of the restrictions that have been placed on him (and rightly so), "free" is a term I use somewhat loosely. In the snippets of his post-release press conference that I've seen, our friend confides in us, sharing his dreams for the future (in English, as protest to the fact that he is not allowed access to foreigners). All poor Mordechai wants to do now is go to America, find a wife, and maybe teach and learn a little history. Of course, if he's ever allowed to leave Israel, I can't help but wonder what will become of his lovely new home in Jaffa's exclusive Andromeda Hill complex, allegedly obtained for him by those unbiased straight-shooters over at the BBC...

Intro...

Welcome to the first posting for Lights in the Distance. If you're reading this, perhaps it's because you were intrigued by the name, or the fact that it's another perspective on life in a volatile part of the world, far from your own. Or maybe you were just bored, surfing the Net to kill time and avoid real life. In any event, since this is just an intro, I'm going to try to keep it short and simple.

First, a little bit about yours truly. I'm an American woman in my mid-30s, living in Israel (for nearly 13 years) with my Israeli husband and our 12 year-old dog (think Murray from the 90s sitcom "Mad About You"). I'm working as a technical communicator in the hi-tech industry, and have been working from home for the past four months due to a high-risk pregnancy. With any luck, I should be giving birth in just under two months' time. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to being released from doctor and husband-imposed "house arrest"...

I read an article in one of the local newspapers last Friday about native-English-speaking bloggers in Israel, and when I read that the overwhelming majority of them are right wing religious types (not that there's anything wrong with that - some of my good friends fall into this category), I decided on the spot to try to even the odds by offering a different perspective.

Well, if you stayed with me this long, you certainly deserve to know how I chose the name "Lights in the Distance". I get so mad when I hear about the people who try to deny the existence of the Palestinians as a people, because when I look out my windows or stand on my porch and look East, I can see the lights in the distance, the lights shining from the homes and towns of our Palestinian neighbors on the other side of the Green Line. It's so obvious to me that they exist as a fact on the ground just as we do. How can people deny it when I can see it with my own eyes?

You cannot deny the existence of a people simply because you wish that they weren't there, and both sides must realize this. We all deserve the right to live in dignity and in peace, and we owe it to our children to provide them with these basic rights that people in other parts of the world take for granted.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough (and some of you are probably saying more than enough) for a first post. It will be interesting to see if I've got the discipline to keep this going, as I love writing, but haven't managed to maintain any kind of a journal since my childhood, writing about such riveting subjects as the Sweathogs and Barry Manilow. Gotta love those 70s...