I always love having guests here - it allows me to see this crazy city in a whole new light. I get to go to new places, and see old places anew. Debbie and Alexa are currently in town which means a whole lot of fun.
On our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher yesterday, we stopped to let Debbie go look in a shop. I sat on the side of the street. A few chairs were set up opposite the Old City shop, so I made use.
A few minutes later, a kid came and sat down next to me. We got to talking, first in Hebrew, then in English, which was easier for him, most of the time.
His name is Ismail. He is ten. He comes from Beit Hanina. We are currently in Palestine, he told me, and every day Israel shoots him.
What difference a few kilometers can have on the psyche and political understandings of a person, just a few kilometers.
Last Wednesday we spent the day driving up to Sakhnin, an Arab village in the Galilee, to meet with Arab-Israeli students at an English Teacher's College. For about an hour we sat and spoke in small groups. The discussion was frank and to the point. Politics were brought up, and the Arab girls were mostly happy to share their opinion. They feel like second class citizens, they told us, but they like it here. They wouldn't go anywhere else, certainly not another Arab country. They like Jews, but are not personally friends with any. They enjoy Israeli democracy.
I can't help seeing the stark divide between my new girlfriends in Sakhnin and my buddy Ismail. It is obvious that the kid's perception of what is going on is built more on what he hears, and his view of Israelis as the "other" more than on personal contact and experience. There are no bullet holes in his body. Just a few kilometers south of Sakhnin, Beit Hanina is a world apart.
What will happen when the Ismail's of this land grow up. Raised on the horrors of the Intifada, I don't see him to ready to extend an olive branch.
As we headed towards the Jaffa Gate, done with our touring for the morning, we passed Ismail. I turned to him and said Salam Aleikem - peace be upon you - hoping to reach out to my new acquaintance. His response was muted. It seemed as if he didn't remember me. My advances towards peace and friendship had fallen on deaf ears.
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