After the worst cold spell Israel has suffered in living memory, cold winds are blowing in Barta'a. For the first time since I started working on this project I got the 'cold shoulder' treatment.
Abu Rami and I went to the local council building, next door to the clinic, to get some coffee. We entered a room full of smoking men, exchanged some greetings and were offered a cup of coffee. A few of the men were familiar faces, often coming to the clinic for a chat or treatment. The tension in the air was palpable. The radio was on with live coverage from Gaza. Under siege, without power, cold dark and hungry, the humanitarian crisis is deepening. And so is the frustration and despair among Palestinians in the West Bank, helpless bystanders in the suffering of their relatives and friends. The tension I felt was one of loyalties. On the one hand there were gestures of hospitality (I was offered coffee), dictated by cultural norms, on the other hand I was all but ignored. How could they socialize with me, an Israeli, when all this suffering is inflicted on their brethren by my government's army?
As long as people on both sides are blinded by an ethnocentric world view. As long as my Israeli friends cannot see the injustice and inhumanity in the suffering of people in Gaza. As long as my Palestinian friends cannot see the the injustice in the suffering inflicted on the people of Sderot (exposed to daily barrages of missiles, living in constant fear, their lives and livelihood going down the drain), we will not have peace.
And moving to a world centric view (where you view the other as equal, regardless of ethnicity) takes time and work.
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