Grassroots movements are important on the ground in order to overcome the mutual fear and dislike between "regular" Israelis and Arabs (after all, what good is peace between two governments if nothing is being done to bring the people closer together somehow, Egypt being a case in point), but when you have bonehead governments on both sides who are talking out both sides of their mouths and engaging in, shall we say, questionable activities, how can we truly get anywhere? It's great to be able to have joint Israeli-Palestinian activities, but if the Palestinians are being humiliated and degraded at checkpoints based on the whims of a few young soldiers, it's certainly going to detract from what you are trying to achieve. The question is (or at least one of the many), how do we, as an unofficial grassroots community (for isn't that what we bloggers from all sides are, those of us trying to get to know "the other"?), control the upper echelons?