Palestinian Peace, Semi Closeted...

As a Christian who always searches, I often wonder about Palestine. With Korean ancestry, I also sympathize with the Palestians since Korea has a history of colonization and suppression of national identity. Resolution 242 and 338 were passed by the UN after the six-day war and the Camp David Accords. Hamas, the Palestian Sunni extremeist group led by Khaled Mashal spends the majority of their revenues on social services. When Jimmy Carter met with him in April the 1967 borders were agreed upon to bring a hunda, yet the paramilitary wing of Hamas led by Ismail Hamiyeh will never agree to Israel's existence. Will Netanyahu, who was almost assasinated by Mashal, be willing to agree to these boundaries? The real question is if Israel will ever allow Muslims to return to the 1967 boundaries, inverting the majority from Jew to Muslim. Seems unlikely given Israel's history and position in the Middle East.

Jerusalem is holy land for the Abrahamic faiths and it should stay that way. It's quartered off, "shared", and quite practically, it's working better now than it has for centuries. To wrap it up, Palestian territory that was taken by force, according to UN Resolutions 242 an 338, must be returned. This means that the 1967 boundaries of Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights should be given back to Palestinains. It's a far-fetched idea, but people like Jimmy Carter has tried his whole life to bring some sort of tranquility in the region. Hamas has lots of friction within its party and with Fatah, yet I think there's a chance Hamas will bring a dovish hawk to the table for negotiations. If my enemy tried to kill me, I'd be angry too, but if the people mean that much to you where all of your revenue is spent on aquiring social capital, then it's not a far-fetched idea to see if you can meet somewhere towards the middle for starters.

Personally, I've been cooped up in the apartment thinking about where to begin my writing. Many of the books and journals I still need are UW restricted. BUT...I will get it done, and done well :)

Ramon is at the Latin American World Economic Forum as a greeter. He gets to meet CEOs and diplomatic bigwigs. I don't know if he's truly for the working people, he seems like a modern Brazilian capitalist. Yet, as a gay man, he must have it in his heart to seek forms of justice for the marginalized, even if it is only for his own people.

Olivier's buttocks honestly look no different than before he had the surgery. He feels bette though so I guess it worked. He doesn't seem like the type with an issue of image, so I think it boosted his self-esteem a bit and gave him what he wanted. I personally would never have plastic surgery, but for some people, it seems almost recreational. Forty-five percent of the clients, he told me, were male. Maybe that's an international figure?

I finally got to see the side of Brazil I've been waiting to see, Zona Norte, the working areas. The minimum wage is around $200 and people from the North and West will travel up to two hours in the morning to do service jobs in the South. Ramon tells me maids even have maids here which touches upon the heirarchical nature of Brazilian soceity. On the bus, I went past blotches of favelas. As I arrived at Raphael's home, the other side of the street was a favela. He told me not to think of going there. We traveled to the mall and met Charles, his boyfriend. A former military guy, Charles is a late-bloomer who was almost married. He doesn't like PDA and lives a semi-closeted life like many gays in Rio. We went to a store and Charles spotted a couple. He told me he saw the guy at a party the other night, exclusively for gays. The implications of being semi-closted has it affects on HIV and AIDs. Like the states, heterosexual women aquiring aids from their parters who have sex with men (MSM) have become the largest growing group new HIV/AIDS cases.


Lastly, before I take a shower and crash in bed, I want to thank everyone for reading this self-absorbed blog ;) Since my camera was stolen, I don't know if I will buy another one here, but I will make sure I get some photos of my killer tan and post it on this blog (on top of Christ the Redeemer I have to visit before I leave). That's what happens when one of the Seven Wonders sits in your backyard, you tend to forget. Night everyone!


P.S. I just ate a mango the size of a small basketball. If you ever come here, acai is mandatory to try.