Each narrative has two perspectives, often those on opposing sides are isolated from the views of his or her “enemy.” Following our days of freedom in Beit She’an we returned to the confinement of our bus. An almost two-hour drive accompanied by a (well needed) nap refreshed my mind as we headed to the Arab village of Jisr Az Zarqa.
When we arrived, our cohort along with around ten teens from Jisr Az Zarqa gathered in a circle. Following the typical sharing of names, ages, and “fun facts,” our newly intertwined group headed down to the beach to play games in the sand. However, on the walk to the beach, I approached Ahmad, a fellow sixteen-year-old, who shared my interests in physics, engineering, and computer science. During the first game, an accidental knee to my groin prompted me and Ahmad to continue our conversation. We chatted for a while and shared our opinions regarding many different topics.
Even though I gained more knowledge and enjoyed discussing certain things more than what I am about to write about, two of his opinions relate better to the goal of our mission: one regarding his lifestyle and religion, and the other, the conflict between Israel and the Arabs. Ahmad described himself as a non-religious Muslim. When contrasting the American lifestyle to his he mentioned that he does not touch women. He claimed that eating, sleeping, and intercourse are activities of animals. Because of this he gets up early in the morning and runs with his mother, does not like to eat out of the house, and will not touch a woman unless he will marry her because this is his way of offering respect. When asked if he ever thought there would be peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Arabs he responded with a confident “no.” He proclaimed that he himself along with other Muslim Arabs have honor. He told me that when Israel wanted to share the land with the Arabs, the Arabs had the honor and stood up for themselves. In his view, during the Six Day War, when the Arabs wouldn’t give up their land, Israel came in and took what it wanted in under a week using guns and new technology while the Arabs defended their honor by throwing rocks. From his point of view, the conflict is not one of religions, but that of people who will never stop fighting in order to defend their honor.
Jisr Az Zarqa is located just thirty minutes north of Tel Aviv, the economic powerhouse of Israel, yet, surrounded by wealth it is the poorest Arab village in Israel. This neglected community shows that although the divide between Israel and Arabs is shrinking, it is still a profound issue. Additionally, from this poverty-stricken community, I met one of the brightest minds and was lucky to have (what has been and what likely will be) the most enlightening conversation of the entire trip.