Tom Waits: Road To Peace

Young Abdel Madi Shabneh
Was only 18 years old
The youngest of 9 children
He'd never spent a nite
Away from home
And his mother held his photograph
up in the NY Times
You see the killing has intensified
along the road to peace

A tall, thin boy with a wispy moustache
Disguised as an Orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem
some had survived World War II
And the thunderous explosion
Blew out windows
200 yards away
more retribution and 17 dead
along the road to peace

At King George Avenue and Jaffa Road
Passengers boarded bus 14A
In the aisle next to the driver
Abdel Madi Shabneh
And the last thing that he said
On earth was, God is great and God is good
And he blew them all to kingdom come
upon the road to peace

In response to this, another kiss
Of death was visited upon
Yashir Tehah Israel says is an Hamas
Senior militant
And Israel sent 4 choppers in
Flames engulfed his white opal and
It killed his wife and his 3-year-old child
leaving only blackened skeletons

They found a toddler's bottle and a pair
Of small shoes and waved them in
Front of the cameras, but Israel
Said they did not know that
his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere
and only suffering on TV
Neither side will give up their smallest
Right along the road to peace

Israel launched its latest campaign
Against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back
and killed five Israeli soldiers
Though thousands dead and wounded
on both sides
most have been
Middle Eastern civilians
They fill ther children
Full of hate
To fight an old man's war
And die upon the road to peace

This is our land
We will fight with all our force
Say the Palastinians
And the Jews
And each side will cut off the hand
of anyone who tries to stop the
Resistance
If thy right eye offends thee then
You must pluck it out
And Machoud Abbas and
Sharon had been lost
Along the road to peace

Once Kissinger said we have no friends
America only has interests"
And now our president wants to be seen
As a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But he is reluctant to risk his
Future with the fear of his political failure
So he plays chess at his desk
As he poses for the press
Ten thousand miles from the road to peace

In a video they found at the home
of Abdel Madi Shabneh
He held a kalishnikov riffle
And he spoke with a voice
More like a boy
He was an excellent student
He studied so hard it was as
If he had a future and he told
His mother that he had a test that day
Along the road to peace

The fundamentalist killing
On both sides are standing in the
Path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli
Army with guns and tanks and bullets
And if God is great
And God is good
Why can't he change the
Hearts of men
Maybe God himself is lost
And needs help
Maybe God himself he needs
All of our help
Maybe God himself is lost
And needs help
He's out up on the road to peace

Well maybe God himself is lost
And needs help
Maybe God himself he needs
All of our help
And he's lost upon
The road to peace