The best month of my life began thirty thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean.
As all the passengers from the first class cabin to coach slept, I sat in the upright position filled with excitement, ready to step foot in Israel. On board were forty six other friends who have been my family for the past six years each summer at Camp JRF. It was only fitting that I was the one radiating with excitement. I have always been known as the one with the most cheer, passion, excitement, and ability to excite and motivate others. I sat there in my chair for the whole eleven hour flight envisioning myself kissing the ground the second I hopped off the plane. I decided to save my kisses for the Western Wall of Jerusalem.
Today was my last day in Jerusalem, and I decided to spend it becoming a man – someone who took a risk. Our group had free time in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. We had to stay within the borders of the Jewish quarter and stay in groups of at least three for safety precautions. While my friends Ben, Gio, and I went shopping near the border of the Jewish and Arab quarter, I saw a completely different culture from the distance. I asked them to go on another one of my adventures to explore the unknown life of the Palestinian people. Gio exclaimed “You can’t be serious; no we’re not doing this.” Ben just looked at me and shook his head. I turned to Ben and said, “I will meet you by the falafel kiosk in one hour.” He just looked at me with shock and disbelief that I was taking a risk. No matter the risk, I truly believed – and still believe – that in order to see the land and culture of a country, I had to see all of it, and not just the commercial pieces set in place for tourists. As I walked across an iconic Jerusalem sandstone street, I crossed not only a street but a physical, cultural, religious, and economic border between the Jewish and Arab quarter.
I stepped foot into the Arab quarter and immediately could smell the difference in the air. The Palestinian aroma was filled with spices foreign to my nose. As I delved into the depths of the Arab quarter, the aroma of Arab deliquesces transformed subtly into a cloud of traditional Palestinian tobacco. The sights I saw inside the Arab quarter will always be the most memorable and astonishing images I will probably ever see in my life. Every face I saw radiated with extraordinary pain. The long faces with the sad droopy eyes. Although I did not have the time to stop and ask each person about their past, I could tell that their lives have been drastically changed when they were forced to leave their homes in order to make way for the Jewish state to be created.
The Arab quarter and the Jewish quarter appeared to be similar in many ways; however, the aspects that haunt me are the clear and distinct differences in poverty. The spacious streets of the Jewish quarter perfectly counter the tight alley ways between each row of shops in the Arab quarter. Many shops in the Jewish quarter are four times the size of most shops in the Arab quarter.
I sometimes wonder if the reason I was not permitted to enter the Arab quarter was because of safety concerns, or if they did not wish for my eyes to see the horrible conditions of the Palestinian residents in Jerusalem. On my short walk back to the Jewish quarter, I took one final look at the Arab market. I took snapshots with my mind, images I will always remember.
Entering the Arab quarter alone was the first major risk I have ever taken in my life. Although I am extremely pro-Israel, my experience shattered my view of the Israeli government’s innocence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To see the Jewish and Arab quarter in juxtaposition merely symbolizes the fact that although the Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs have come a long way to coexist in equality, that there are still steps that need to be taken to reach social equality.
This experience removed a veil of ignorance from my eyes by allowing me to realize that in order to fully understand any conflict whether it is between two populations, or two people, it is imperative to comprehend the struggles of both sides. To this day, I use this knowledge to mediate conflicts that I am involved in or that I witness.