Haven't seen any details yet, but in honor of his passing, I've decided to learn that I'm a Neutral Good Human Wizard. I haven't played any role-playing games in years (and years and years) but it was nice re-immersing myself, if only briefly.

I've said before that if the leaders of the Israeli Jewish and Israeli Arab communities would just shut up for a few weeks, a lot of the problems would, if not disappear, be a little more manageable. This opinion was based on stories I'd heard from jewfroart's parents (they met in Jerusalem while they were both living there) and from my own experience with Arab muslims in the military, but it's nice to have confirmation. Apparently, when left to their own devices, Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews are actually getting along, as many young Arabs are volunteering for national service and otherwise taking part in Israeli society. An excerpt:

"This is astonishing on a number of fronts: First, it suggests that what most people think about the loyalty of Israeli Arabs may be just wrong. Second, it suggests an enormous disparity between what elected officials are saying on a central issue of political identity, and what their own voters actually believe–which makes one wonder what the point of all those elections was. Third, it suggests that Israeli Arab leaders are much more interested in appearing to be a part of the Arab world than in advancing the actual interests of their constituents–which makes one wonder where their funding must be coming from. Finally, it suggests that, contrary to proper democratic functioning, there is something preventing more reasonable candidates from being fielded among the Israeli Arab community."

Here's the whole article: