Sitting in a Coffee Shop, waiting for peace (or perhaps just summer)

Here I sit on the last day of the semester (which did not seem like a real semester at all) and feel torn between my wish for it to hurry up and my wish that it would not happen at all. See, in-order for the day to actually end, I need to complete a 12 page paper on the internal and external factors that hinder peace from occurring in Israel and Palestine. This paper is what makes this day so ironic. I love where I sit right now. I am reading blogs from Israeli left thinkers (who are orthodox Jews), in a westernized Egyptian coffee shop, listening to Summit Avenue, and watching the young couple sit across from each other, their legs tangled together, intensely discussing life. While my music has played through Switchfoot, Hellogoodbye, and Plus One; I have read through the BBC and my readers; and British and Egyptian schoolchildren have filtered through the shop, this couple has steadfastly remained. I wonder what they are talking about. Why is she, wearing a higab and covered from neck to toes in clothing, touching his face in public? Why is he only listening, not saying anything at all? Has she found someone new? Is he not treating her as she wants to be treated? How does she want to be treated? I love pondering these stories. I want to know more, but I just want to sit here watching in hopes of finding the answer. The couple in front of me, the music in my ears, and the words I’m reading describing an effort by Orthodox Jews to provide a washing machine for a Palestinian family give me a sense of hope for this world. But the reason I see the couple, have the music playing and the words open is because I have to write a paper about why peace cannot be achieved, and this paper has plenty of academic support.