Gaza conflict: in transit to war

“Welcome to Israel. We wish you a pleasant stay. If this is not your final destination, we wish you a pleasant onward journey.”

Another matter of fact landing at Ben Gurion airport. That onward journey – can the British Airways captain be referring to Gaza? One suspects not. Out of sight out of mind.

Frosty immigration procedures – but then that’s normal. The only hint of war is the occasional ‘bomb shelter’ sign. It turns out to be located in the gents.

And that is the extraordinary and oft repeated reality of war in and around Israel. The populace has learned to live with it. The Jersualem Post talks of 13 IDF soldiers and some sixty Palestinians dead in fighting on Sunday, alongside 800 injured.

Rush hour toward Jerusalem is the same bumper-to-bumper business it always is. Plenty of flags on the route but none at half mast.

For now the Israeli government is still facilitating press passes and permits to go through the Gaza checkpoint.

Strange business, journalism. Yesterday I was sitting in an English country garden eating lunch. Now I’m in Israel closing in on Gaza.

On my way, amid my rushed packing (hand baggage only) the broken zip on my aging carry-all jams once more. At Heathrow I’d bought a cheap fold up bag. On the plane I’d changed bags, leaving my old friend in the luggage bin, empty, the zip still broken. But the old bag wont give up so easily and pitches up on the conveyor belt.

I have to retrieve it and take it unceremoniously to the rubbish bin. To die in a bin in Tel Aviv – having survived ever since El Salvador in 1982 via Haiti, Obama, and so much more.

Away with sentimentality. There’s a war to cover, raging between unequal forces. How to stay balanced, dispassionate, objective. It’s a challenge.

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