A tragedy that takes place on familiar turf is somehow more genuine and intimate than the run-of-the-mill disasters that we hear about every day. So it was for me when I heard of the bombing on Sunday of a tourist bus that killed four people on the Egyptian side of the Taba border crossing linking Israel and Egypt.
I first visited Sinai in 1980, when I traveled by bus from Tel Aviv to Cairo. In those days, before there was a tunnel under the Suez Canal, passengers had to board a simple, motorized raft to make the short passage across the Canal. There was a bar, a smoke-filled room with a scratchy, sandy floor next to the landing whose assorted local patrons still bring to mind the bar in the original "Star Wars" movie. In other words, foreign and exotic, with a hint of menace and adventure.
