at the mailbox

The man looked like an old-testament prophet and his attitude was appropriately self-righteous. The subject was Jimmy Carter's new book, which, shockingly, tells it like it is about the West Bank—a system of apartheid is growing up there. Palestinians have different schools from Jews. They even have to use different roads. "No, I haven't read it but I know it's wrong if it says there's apartheid in Israel," he blustered. I said, "It's not about Israel itself, it's about the West Bank, where there is a whole separate system." Well, he said, "Israel OWNS the West Bank."

"I guess the Boers owned South Africa, too," I replied. He said he didn't know much about South Africa. I said maybe he should learn a bit more about it, if he was going to say apartheid didn't exist on the West Bank. He retreated. I felt good.