No escape

I’ve just returned from a pleasant three day sojourn in Paris. Three whole days in which no news was good news, although the dreaded B-word did ensure that Eurostar kept sending messages to future passengers not to travel from Gare du Nord, due to French customs industrial action. As it was there was no sign of any French industrial action, and the longest bit of the queue was to get through the British Border Force’s passport control. We Brits don’t need industrial action in order to create a queue. Returning on the 29th March was I thought likely to be the last opportunity I would have to travel as a fully-fledged European citizen, but it seems I underestimated Theresa May’s ineptitude. Picking up today’s Guardian I may well have not bothered going away – the story is the same as a week ago, except the long grass has just got a little bit longer.

Sitting in the sunshine on the Left Bank, sipping an expresso whilst reading the New York Times, I came across an article outlining the dangers of the Israel/Trump love-in. Whilst some utopians still talk of a ‘two-state’ solution, the direction of travel is a one-state solution, which I suppose we could call ‘Greater Israel,’ and which clearly has the full support of Trump (as demonstrated by his backing of Israel’s colonial theft of the Golan Heights). As the article pointed out, this version of Israel will incorporate a large number of Palestinians. How exactly will Israel deal with this enlarged Arab population? Will Israel be able to maintain its ‘Jewish nation state’ presumption? If the Palestinian Authority ceases to exist (with little or no territory left to control) will the more aggressive Hamas become the main focus of Palestinian resistance? What will happen if more and more Palestinains are dispossessed and exiled? I do hope Netanyahu is locked up soon, it’s a pity Trump seems no closer to such a fate.
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Whilst in Paris I visited the Pompidou Centre for a wonderful Victor Vaserely exhibition, of which more later under Perambulations.