Here we are again!

It's lovely to be back in Haifa. The weather has been marvelous (except for one day of "hamsin" when it was 100+) -- cool, sunny -- great for walking. The apartment was maintained to perfection; we couldn't tell we had left it. We have spent the last two weeks taking care of small problems (the computer died, for example) and seeing friends, catching up, settling in. Both of us are very well and delighted to be back.

The political situation is fascinating since Netanyahu's visit to Washington. The reality of what actually transpired there is becoming clearer. Netanyahu is apparently resigned to removing the illegal outposts. Barak (Ehud, not Obama), the Defense Minister, whose responsibility it is to remove the outposts, has said that he would do it. But we've seen this so many times before and we're seeing it again. They take one down in the morning and by the afternoon the settlers are rebuilding it. These outposts are a joke, anyhow. They are three to five trailers that have been set up on a hill close to a settlement, and the settlers call them "natural growth" of their settlement, which is "allowed." But they are really nothing. Two or three families live there. They are symbolic. And they are illegal by agreement of everyone.

We visited Kibbutz Gazit over the weekend. Lots of changes there -- they have razed a "neighborhood" of older housing units and are building a new neighorhood. Lots of building is happening. People are renovating their homes, putting on new rooms and second stories and generally enlarging their housing. The kibbutz has changed so dramatically over the last 10-15 years -- it is not at all like it was when I first started coming to Israel in the 80s. Then you would have to get permission from the kibbutz to make any changes in your house, like getting a TV or even a coffee-maker because the culture required that everyone have the same thing. That is gone now. The kibbutz is privatized; everyone can do what they can afford. This is a sea change in the culture of kibbutz life, with great consequences, as you might imagine.

Yesterday I visited a moshav where one of my good friends has lived for decades. The moshav is changing too. For a long time it was stagnent -- the children were leaving for the cities and the moshav was floundering. Now Yehudit tells me that it is flourishing -- many young families have come and built homes there and the school is full of young ones. The moshav is about 20 minutes from Haifa and an hour from Tel Aviv.

So I asked about the economic situation here, because with all the building and renovation that I see you would think that the global economic situation is not as severe here as in the US. And I think this must be right. I know three families who are moving out of their homes in order to do very significant renovations. And these are not rich people either...

I'm enjoying early morning walks and taking pictures along the way...I hope you enjoy them too!

Pat