Reading Moby Dick in a small Industrial Area, a bit into the western bank, Israel (or whomever this piece of land will belong to later on).

This was going to be ‘Reading Moby Dick in Haifa, Israel’. But some surprising obligations (work related), found me driving past the Israeli check posts and into a small industrial zone, five minutes’ drive into the west bank. When getting there, as my visit was surprising for both sides (yet quite necessary), I had four hours or so to myself, without an internet connection. Since I had downloaded Moby Dick into my work laptop, I had the opportunity to sit there and just read, uninterrupted. Having been on both sides of the argument regarding places such as this, and never knowing what will happen with them (Currently, it’s supposed to be annexed to Israel at some point), I prefer not to have an opinion, especially as I’m just visiting. So for the sake of that visit, meant for learning and observation, brief and missing ideology, you could’ve called me Ishmael.

The place is a small and very industrious factory (quite ‘Green’ by the way). With quiet hills at its sides, and nothing urban, you could consider this a ship. Not a whaling ship, as it doesn’t milk the land dry, but still, the isolation remains. If you don’t want to eat the local cafeteria food, or look to buy some candy or cigarettes, you need to take a car and go back out. And what is obvious is the amount of Starbucks. Not the coffee, but the mentality. Nobody I meet is there based on some hard ideology. This is a job, with good profit, and we are all there for that. The factory itself is a Starbuck – no big-time ‘settling the promised land’ declarations (the flags are the same size as in any other place on Independence Day). They’re here because they got a good location, this isn’t quite far from people’s home, and there’s a very good tax discount.

 But somewhere behind all of this good reasoning, there’s always an Ahab – he’s not steering this “ship” from the factory HQ, or the industrial zone, or anywhere visible. But we’re there, in a factory built in a disputed zone, because of our country’s Ahabs, and their struggle with the other side’s Ahabs, both considering the other a White Whale to conquer. And the factory will be swept away, or remain forever, when we find out who’s a crippled madman, and who’s Moby Dick.