I have just logged on to tpmcafe after a few days of absence, since I am traveling in Israel for a few weeks. I tried to read Robert Wright's entry on his own site , the one that Matt Ygelesias refers to regarding why bloggers don't talk about Israel, but here in Jerusalem, my computer crashed three times when I tried to load Wright's site, so I'll put in my two cents about the situation here without entering the fray or speculating about a post I can't read (especially since I am clearly not one of those who is shy about posting copy about Israel). (As a MAC user, I apologize, but the software doesn't allow me to html-code these entries...)

As much as the Israelis and the Palestinians are caught in a web of low-grade warfare from which it appears neither side can climb down, there is also World Cup fever here among both peoples. I am staying in a hotel in East Jerusalem, where many diplomats, journalists and Palestinians stay and the World Cup play-off is on a large screen in the dining room where some of the fanciest food in Jerusalem is served. There is no restaurant or bar you can go to in Israel these days without a large screen--and when I meet both Israeli and Palestinian friends, all meetings are cut short for the 9 pm or 10 pm starting time of the game. Soccer, it seems, is something that the Israelis and Palestinians have in common-and in yet another example of American exceptionalism, the whole word (except in the U.S. ) is watching soccer play-offs. Likewise, the U.S. is absent from the rising tensions here in Israel and in Gaza. Indeed, some of the blame has to go to the Bush Administration's ongoing insistence to ignore this part of the world, a part of the world that abhores a political vacuum.The U.S. absence has been strikingly consistent here throughout the Bush years, but now more than ever, as Syria is pulled into this mess and Egypt and Turkey try to mediate.

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