We take a walk down to the waterfront. It´s sunny but quite breezy. Either tonight or tomorrow morning a boat is supposed to go to Gaza from Larnaca carrying medical supplies, a successor to the boat Dignity that was rammed by the Israelis, apparently in international waters. We try to spot the boat from the pier. There´s a possible one in view but who knows. We´re less than 200 miles from Gaza. Mostly we´re north of it. We´re probably not a hundred miles from Syria, roughly opposite Latakia, where Lilly, my genealogical correspondent and probably very distant relative lives.
The news from Gaza is so horrific it´s painful to listen to. Actually, it´s rather difficult to listen to, as J is too frustrated by the blatant Israeli framing of the conflict in misleading terms to listen silently. Not only are casualties running a hundred to one but, as has been pointed out, this is the only war of recent times where civilians are unable to flee the conflict. Usually there´s not much historical context to reports (we´re largely dependent on Euronews and BBC, but there are worse sources). However on BBC World radio the other night we listen to Robert Fisk, experienced and prize winning journalist with the UK paper The Independent, for incisive and courageous analysis.
Meanwhile it´s hard to know whether the second Cypriot boat is being sent with any realistic hopes of getting through or on a mission that is symbolic only.
About 5, just after I´ve put the rice on, we hear car horns outside. A wedding? A celebration after a football match? We go out on the balcony and look down on a parade of honking cars festooned with Palestinian flags. Check down at the waterfront but no demo, though the restaurants and cafes are fairly busy and there are still children at the merry-go-round.
J still has with him his little pin with the entwined Canadian and Palestinian flags that he got in Bethlehem last year, though we left our Free Palestine shirts at home.
JAWORSKI TRAVELS