Jewish Journal  On Statistics and Heroes  by Hal Klopper  August
29, 2002 | 8:00 pm  The current conflagration in Israel and the
territories is now two years old. News of each explosion in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv alarms me and fills me with a dread that
does not retreat until I hear on the phone the voices of my
friends in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Countless times now I have
woken my friends in the middle of the Israeli night. I confirm
their voices, and then my dread recedes into statistics.  We've
been inundated by the numbers of dead and wounded in the second
Palestinian uprising. Charts show us dips and rises in
casualties on a weekly and monthly basis. Media reports follow a
strange and similar pattern: the incident itself, followed by
eyewitness accounts, followed by politicians commenting on
either the tragedy or inevitability of such a thing. And weaving
them together is an ongoing debate over whether this particular
incident was based on retaliation or revenge, whether it was
preemptive or responsive.  I