Re: the woman in Gaza: By not talking to you perhaps she believed she was showing the men that she was not 'one of them' - them, exemplified by you, someone speaking the language of 'the oppressors'. Which is too bad, because dehumanizing anyone is...well...a shame for everyone. But then again, maybe I am being too political here. You ever travelled and run into an expat who had settled into a place? The last thing they want to do is talk to you, someone from their home country - they are worried, absurdly, that you will expose them somehow as a non-native, and just by acknowledging you, they will lose their hard-earned cred with the locals. Then again, maybe she was one of those women who doesn't like other women. What do you think?