HAARETZ:
Israelis are so estranged from their region that the wider Middle East is another world to us. …. It barely exists in our consciousness. We are focused on the United States and on Europe: we look there in politics, for travel and for culture.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF
At a dinner event in London I sat next to a Syrian. During the evening I had a long talk with someone from Bahrain who told me about his fight at home for human rights. I spoke to a man from Afghanistan who told me his hopes for his country’s future. Also at the dinner were people from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
To an Israeli it was an unusual and strange experience. All these people from our neighborhood, friendly and wanting to talk, to share information and thoughts. Yet we never see them, we know little about their aspirations and day-to-day lives. They are ‘the enemy’.
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Israel, Middle East
It would have been a more interesting conversation if a palestinian ghost was at the dinner table