Hope

Amazing sunset yesterday

 Wow ... so Israel and archenemy Lebanon have held talks regarding its shared border. Reports are positive. What a relief. The mutual recognition of states with UAE is leading to a domino effect as more arab countries are gravitating towards friendly relations with Israel. Only Palestine is against it. and it looks like it'll be oeft out of the bandwagon and stands to lose everything. It should take the initiative to change course and work within this tide instead of against it. It needs new blood in its leadership to turn the ship around ... because the dinosaurs who repeat slogans from 40 yrs back are becoming irrelevant. Even it's own public no longer have faith in it.

Yesterday saw one of the most spectacular sunsets this autumn. Almost every social media was filled with photos of the amazing sky taken from different parts of the country. Autumn is always so dramatic. Now all we need is rain. Let's hope the skies don't let us down. I'm thinking of the massive downpours like 30 yrs ago ... thunder, lightening and loud pattering of raindrops on the windowpanes. Yes ... and the occasional electrical outage as well. Nights spent in candlelight in the room studying. That's how it was 30 yrs back.

Infections have dropped to 2000. But the govt has decided to extend the lockdown to Sunday. It should have ended this coming Friday. Many are asking for small businesses to reopen as owners have suffered enough. A clear and calculated exit strategy should be employed ... but here politics override everything. Unfortunately.

Yesterday I met Omar, a shop owner round the corner from our house. He's been closed for 7 months now. He's a young man but now his hair was mostly white and his face was tired. He, like other shop owners come to air their shops once in a while ... the stagnant air speaks of hopelessness and despair. 2 weeks back Abu Sharif, another owner came to do the same. Let's hope for the best. There's nothing else we can do.