Locator: 49360GAZA.
Updates
Later, 12:47 a.m. CT, 8:47 a.m. Gaza: Israel says first seven of 20 hostages have been handed over to Israel. Trump scheduled to meet with hostages; then fly to Egypt to sign "peace" agreement. Wow, in Israel -- what an incredible security concern. Not even a full year into his second term. Much could be said about the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump is "minutes away" from landing in Tel Aviv. Will receive a hero's welcome there. "Both sides" (Israelis / Muslims) apparently are applauding. Even Hillary Clinton apparently has said good things about Trump with regard to this. In the big scheme of things, it was best that Trump did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He does not need to be part of the group that included Barack Obama and Yasser Arafat.
Original Post
My family and I were stationed in England (RAF Lakenheath) when the "wall came down" -- November 9, 1989 -- or maybe we had just returned to Germany (Bitburg Air Base) -- it's amazing how I forget exactly where we were during such a momentous event. I remember the excitement, the live scenes on television. It was amazing. [Just checked the diary: yes, we were clearly back in Germany when the wall came down -- Bitburg Air Base. We were living "on the economy" so we would have had limited American television exposure. We did eventually get a "piece of the Berlin Wall," now stored away somewhere in all my other "worthless" memorabilia.]
I'm getting the same feeling with regard to what's going on in Gaza right now -- the two events can't be directly compared but when it comes to how each event affected individual families, the two events are very, very similar. I have doubts that current events will have a lasting effect to the same extent the German event had, but one can only hope. Regardless, today, tonight, and tomorrow are truly momentous and historic.
Adding to all this, President Trump is not a passive observer tweeting about this from the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He is not getting radiation therapy for prostate cancer. He is on his way -- yet another foreign trip -- almost as many foreign trips as months he has served in his second term. From what little I've watched President Trump is getting a lot of positive press from even the fake media outlets. It's quite amazing.
Twenty Israeli hostages for 2,000 Palestinian hostages.
The exchange is scheduled for noon in Gaza or about 5:00 a.m. in Washington, DC, where the US government is still shut down, and, according to some, will be shut down until US commercial a/c start falling out of the skies.
