{"article":{"id":111151,"heading":"My Zoo","author":"Fairness and Accuracy","created":"2004-05-25 15:11:03","modified":"2004-05-25 15:29:33","last_modified":"Tue, 25 May 2004 22:29:33","article":"

As a child, I used to get free trips to get ice cream and go to the local zoo with my parents friends. There was a town square, and a local midget who was reportedly a millionare who begged for change. I remeber the peacocks and hens used to roam free from the zoo to the square where the ice cream shop was. It was a dreamland for children. It is no more.

When I read the Guardian article about the Rafah zoo today, I couldn't help but think about revenge. You see, my zoo was in Israel, twenty minutes from Tel Aviv. About two years ago it was blown up by suicide bombers. Actually, the ice cream shop was blown up, but the blast took the zoo, a few grandmothers, and a few babies with it. Had I not been relocated by my wise parents to the U.S., the blast would have undoubtedly taken me. You see, that was my favorite ice cream shop. And the monkeys and free range goats at the zoo were a special treat.

The peacocks and hens are gone now also, no one knows if they were caught in the blast but given their daily route it makes sense that they are barbecue.

This little tid bit is not meant to ilicit some kind of agreement that an eye for an eye is a fair way to play. We have an expression in Hebrew, \"Al ha efech,\" quite the opposite. I miss my zoo, and Rafah will miss it's zoo. And it's a telling example of how beautiful things get squashed by hatred and violence. But let no one think for a second that the Rafah zoo is more devastating a loss than my childhood playground, or the people who died there eating ice cream.

It is high time we all called for a universal cease fire in Israel that includes both Israelis and Palestinians, if we can. I must say however, although it doesn't help anyone, that Israel was first to have a zoo blown up, and hopefully Rafah will be last.

When this is all over, my prayer is that the zoos will be the first places rebuilt, and that a peace sign will hang over every one.

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