My friend who owns the deli where I get my daily coffee is Palestinian and he always calls me by my Arabic name. I’m the son of Holocaust survivors and I have many family members who live in Israel. When violence erupts in the Middle East, we both worry about each other’s families, complain about the politicians and extremists, and mourn the loss of so many children in the region. The many stories on the Internet that show Palestinians and Israelis who are couples or family or who live together and manage to get along and even share similar views about the future never surprise me. Here’s PRI on a program that brings Israelis and Palestinians together, often under the same roof. “Growing up, I never had the chance to have this kind of discussion or experience with anyone from the Palestinian side.”

+ Meanwhile, John Kerry and other international leaders continue to try to get the two sides to agree to a five day ceasefire. So far, it’s not happening. Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me either.

+ Etgar Keret in The New Yorker: Israel’s other war.