Tired of it.

So today was March 15th, the big Palestinian protest day for solidarity between Gaza and the West Bank to unite Palestine. The protest in Ramallah ended up being 3-5 thousand people, depending on reports, and the one is Gaza in the hundred of thousands, until Hamas co-oped it. When I went to the one in Ramallah it was more like a fiesta than a protest...which was great, and exactly as it should be, though I did hear at some points it got rough as Fatah thugs decided to do a little pushing. Come on, guys...the future is best manifested through hope and will than anger (at least, if Egypt can tell us anything).

It was interesting cabbing to work this morning. I don't usually take a taxi, but I was running to the Jordanian consulate to get my visa then to a hair appointment (personal protest against dark roots?), so I had to take a cab. The cabbie and I were chatting, one of my all-time-favorite-activities. I asked him about the protest, about his views on Facebook and Egypt and the potential for a revolution, or third intifada (slogan: third time's the charm) here in Palestine. He looked at me and said, "to be honest? I'm just tired. I don't want there to be another intifada. I just want to be able to put food on the table, have a job, have a house, and have my kids have a better life than mine."

I've been wondering since I got here, right when the region decided that not all was quiet on the eastern front, why, of all places, Palestine was so quiet. And I've now heard this answer repeatedly: war fatigue. These people have just had enough. The cabbie went on to say that he'd seen dead people, he has friends in prison, he has relatives who were killed...and he's done.

I think it's important to remember that the vast majority of people here would say something similar, and especially important to remember as the whole settlement issue is throwing gas on a fire that's almost burnt out.

Now, if you think that the petering out of the revolutionary flame is good or bad, that's up to you and I see endless good arguments on both sides. Personally, I think that sometimes, to quote my best friend, you just gotta rest.

PS - I cannot overstate enough for my American friends who don't travel a lot how much Facebook is just unimaginably global. Facebook is more important than the wheel, than the discovery of fire, than Splenda. It's insane. I mean, think of that...here I am in Palestine, chatting with my cabbie about his hundred friends on Facebook and the settings he puts on his daughters account. I still think nothing beats my Jordan story to really describe how much Facebook is entirely embedded in the region...well, perhaps. you know, Egypt/Libya/Bahrain/Tunisia/Palestine/Morocco/Jordan...but come on, it was my IT guy.