they're the people that you meet when you're walking down the street

the gilad shalit vigil is no longer alone. 
since bibi declared a 10-month settlement freeze. we've had a big protest: 

and now a tent has been set up with folks there all day and sometimes at night (but not on shabbos!):

it's hard to see two issues to which i have such very different emotional reactions side by side. i walk past the gilad shalit table and feel sadness for his family and hope for his return.
i walk past the settlers and feel mostly anger and frustration. there they are with their posters that say "we will continue to build in the west bank!" and my blood just boils.
like any political decision in Israel, the settlement freeze seems to have made lots of people unhappy. the very right wing is upset that there is any kind of halt to building in land they want to claim as jewish. the very left wing isn't satisfied unless the freeze is permanent, settlements are dismantled, and east jerusalem is included in the discussion.
here in this land that has been contested for millennia, emotions run high, opinions are many, and solutions are few.