Jasar a Zarka is a poor Arab village of 13,000 residents north of Tel Aviv. While driving to Jasar a Zarka, I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement. I was very nervous to meet Israeli Arabs for the first time. Questions of what they would think of twenty-four Jewish-American teenagers were racing through my head. When we first arrived, many different sets of eyes were staring at us as we walked to the local high school. There were many children looking at us in wonder and taking pictures of the strangers who wandered into their village, as well as adults giving more intense looks from the balconies of their homes. While walking through the village I was shocked at how poor the conditions actually are. For example, there was trash over many of the roads. Later, I learned that many of the youth are at risk as well and that there is a high rate of unemployment among adults. Although there are poor conditions, many of the people living in Jasar a Zarka told us they are happy with the simple lives they live.
Once we arrived at the high school, we were welcomed by Arab teenagers who live in Jasar a Zarka. We broke up into six different groups and began conversations with the teenagers. I was very excited to see what I had in common with these teenagers that live half way across the world from me. For instance, in my group we discussed different hobbies that we have outside of school. In our discussion, we realized that many of the activities that we like to do are the same such as watching sports, dancing, and singing. In addition, both the Arab and American teenagers shared their musical talents consisting of singing, rapping, and drumming with the entire group. This impromptu talent show concluded with one of the Arab teenagers singing “Someone Like You” by Adele and the rest of the group joining her. The fact that we even listen to the same music shows how we similar to each other. Lastly, we concluded our visit by walking to the beach and enjoying a home cooked dinner together. We continued to talk about our interests as we ate dinner. After dinner, we heard about the fisherman’s life, a key aspect of life in Jasar a Zarka, from a local fisherman named Mussa. I was worried that he would say about how he disliked Israel; however, Mussa explained how he really loves living in Israel because of the social benefits that Israel provides him and his family (which other neighboring countries do not). Hearing him speak made me realize that many Israeli Arabs are content with living in Israel.