Life.. A choice you can live with
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Meeting Israeli for the First Time in My Life
I was outside setting on the coach enjoying the great view of Vallekilde when a girl with a long dark curly hair showed up, she looked at me, I saw the sadness in her eyes, and I felt there is something different about her, but couldn’t know what exactly what it was.
She came towards me, “Hello.. I want to talk to you..” she said, I told to her “Sure.. what do you want to talk about?”, I was really shocked when I heard what she had to say after that, because I didn’t expect that she will come to me and the first thing she had to say is “Do you hate me?”
The first thing that I should be clear about here is to understand and explain what she meant by the terms “you” and “me”, I am an Muslim, Arabic and Egyptian young man, and she is an Israeli girl, both of us met for the first time.
There was something inside of me that wouldn’t let me go, but all other parts of my mind and soul were pushing me in this direction to meet someone from Israel, the people who have several wars with Egyptians. Actually, visiting Occupied Palestine is a dream for all Arabs and Muslims, but someone like me couldn’t have such a chance without having really big problems before and after returning back home with the security departments in Egypt. This is why they don’t give you an Israeli Visa on your Passport, but it will be given in another temporary Passport, and this meeting could destroy my whole career history and also could give me a bad reputation as a person who came closer to Israeli people, and that’s why I can not publish this under my name.
The good thing is that I didn’t have to travel to Israel because the meeting is at a neutral place in Denmark where the “Media For Dialogue” course was held, I also knew there would be a chance to meet Arabs from Occupied Palestine, which meant I would be able to have a close look at the conflict. It’s not just another documentary movie, but I would meet real people, and have the ability to interact with them all, hoping to bring something good out of it. This is how I was thinking and how I make it easy for my self to accept it.
I was remembering all of this after hearing the question from the Israeli girl I met in Denmark during the course. I told her “Of course I don’t hate you, but I hate occupation, and you know that our countries had a very bad historical wars against each other, I believe that all humans should live together in peace”. She completely agreed with me like she had the same opinion as mine. I continued “I will be honest and tell you about what I really think because you are not the only one who feels the sadness, but I have also my deep sadness feeling, especially when I think about the feature of Egyptians in coming generations. I believe we will have another big war with Israel, maybe it will take some time until this happen, but no one can stop that, recording to prophet Mohammed -peace and blessings be upon him- “The Hour will not come to pass until you fight the Jews..” to the end of the Hadith (mentioned by Abu Hurayrah in: Whole true small number -7,414). This war will be totally religious and All Muslims will be part of it, it’s not the same war that we have now in the Middle East against the Israeli occupation. and this me feel bad some how, because the war will never end between Muslims and Jews. Of course no body wants war but what to do?!
She was surprised because of what I said so far, and she reminds me of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. I said “Yes.. I have to say that my country is living in a peace agreement with Israel for the mean time, but this exists only on papers. This couldn’t change the fact of hating Israel occupation and considering it the number one enemy of Egypt, and this is what they teach us at schools”. She interrupted me saying “Really?!.. You must be kidding!”, I said “No.. it’s true”. This probably will explain why I didn’t ask the “Do you hate me?” question first, and also I never feel neglected by the Israeli group because the relation from my side is broken.
The Israeli girl was surprised even more this time. She really made me feel that I gave her lots of surprises. This is very strange for an APC (Armored Personnel Carriers) teaching commander in the Israeli army, because I expected that she knows what I am talking about, but it seem that she was hearing all what I told her for the first time in her life, anyways. It was not a good feeling for me as I suppose I lived on the same planet since the moment of birth. I didn’t came from mars, I am only a normal Egyptian guy who is telling the simple truth of what he knows and believes, It’s not my fault that I raised holding hate in my mind and bad feelings in my soul to Israeli occupation. It’s also not the Israeli’s duty to think different. It’s a big fact that I can not nether deny or change.
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5 Responses to “Meeting Israeli for the First Time in My Life”
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There’s a difference between hating the Israeli occupation and treatment of Palestinians, and hating all Israelis and wishing they were all dead. People of both opinions exist on both sides, and it would be better for all of us if the moderates win, because if they don’t, the region will be a nuclear wasteland.
The teaching of hate is alive and well on both sides. You should see what they teach Israeli kids about Arabs in yeshivas (religious orthodox Jewish schools).
When my cousin from Jordan came to visit us in Ramallah nearly 23 years ago, and she met an Israeli for the first time, she was very surprised. She said from all she had been taught as a kid, she thought they were all monsters. The point is they’re as human as we are, and I’m not afraid to write this with my real name because it’s the truth :)
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The majority of Israelis want to live in peace. Don’t you think we have enough of all those killings? Do you really think we like going to the army for 3 years? We have no choice, because as you said it yourself, even counties that have a peace treaty with us see us as there number one enemy.
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It amazes me how naive many Israelis choose to be when I meet them for the first time. You are not “raised to hate”, it is natural to hate an occupier and oppressor, as the Israelis are. It is not natural when someone tries to come to you and use your own humanity against you. I would have told her that it was not personal, but as long as she remained in Palestine then she would be enemy of all Arabs and people of principle. Nice post, but by the way, it is occupied Palestine, not Occupied. If you do a capital O then you institutionalise the occupation and make it official sounding. When you use a lower case o, then it shows it for what it is, a country called Palestine which is still, after sixty years, under colonial rule. Good luck with the blogging and searching my friend.
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Well..They know for sure that planting Israel in the centre of the Arab World was completely wrong and for that they will be hated forever and I really don’t expect them to like me in return…but as human beings we tend to expect a better truth…
If they really want the peace and to be liked etc….maybe they should start moving out of Palestine and merge with the world around them, somehow they might be accepted as they are..otherwise there is no way back from here and they are well aware of that fact..
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i think the problem not about jews i think its about Zionists
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