Getting both sides of the story

** Unfortunately being a student and a traveler means not having very much spare time and since budgeting my time wisely has never been a forte, I haven’t been able to update my blog as often as I would have liked. So I apologize. **

One of the purposes of our Near Eastern Studies program here in the Holy Land is to educate us on the current conflict here – in addition to our biblical studies – by exposing us to each of the different narratives, both Israeli and Palestinian. Before we left to come here, our program director Jim Kurl said that he has been coming here for many years and he still can’t seem to take a side. He concluded by asking us to be open-minded, and that has been my goal. What I am finding is that it really is impossible to take a stand on one side over the other. Every time I have insight into a new narrative I find the pendulum of my opinion swinging back and forth.

For example, we recently visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial here in Jerusalem. As the museum walked us through the Jewish experience from pre WWII through the terror of the Holocaust and concluded with the story of Zionism and the creation of a Jewish national homeland, I couldn’t help but sympathize. In fact it was very emotional to watch a video of children singing Hatikva, the Jewish national anthem while I was standing on the soil of a real Jewish state. And yet, in that moment I forgot that before Israel was Israel it was Palestine, and the Palestinians who still live here, no longer have a state of their own.

The media in North America tends to be rather biased with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the picture we get of the Palestinians is not very favourable. But here at the Jerusalem Center, it is the Palestinians who are our neighbours since we live in the Palestinian east side of Jerusalem. The majority are very friendly and welcoming and a number of students have been invited into people’s homes for meals.

Every now and then we have speakers visit our campus to give a forum and so far we have heard from the American perspective, the Israeli perspective and just recently from the Palestinian perspective. It was very interesting to listen to Dr. Sabella, an elected member of the Palestinian Parliament speak to us. What he focused his talk on was helping us understand that Palestinians are real people concerned about getting on with their daily lives and that what they want is peace. He also stressed that Palestinians are very educated people, which I have noticed myself. The little kids who live across the street speak Arabic but they study Hebrew, English and French in school. Already they speak more languages than I do (which is not hard since I only speak one).

Unfortunately Dr. Sabella was not very optimistic about a resolution to the conflict, which by the way he stressed was political not religious. He said at the moment they just don’t have the right ingredients for peace. Finally he said, “If you want to work for a better world, you need to understand both sides.” And that is what I am trying to do during my stay here in this conflict-riddled land.

I believe that in order to understand both sides it is necessary to move beyond talking merely about political ideologies and get to know the people, who they are and what they believe. This week I had several chances to do that. On Thursday night we celebrated Ramadan – at least we simulated a Ramadan meal since it isn’t really Ramadan. We had a speaker come in and talk to us about how Muslims fast from dawn until sundown every day of the month. But it is more than just abstaining from food – rather it is a way to develop discipline as they renew their contract with Allah. It was nice to learn more about the spiritual aspect. After the speaker we feasted on traditional food and then learned a traditional Palestinian folkdance.

Following our night of Muslim feasting, I went to a Friday night synagogue service the next evening. Our Jewish studies teacher had kindly arranged for us to attend. We dressed in our Sunday best, and the boys wore yarmulkes out of respect, and we made it there just in time as the sun was setting. During the service, which consisted mainly of hymns from the prayer book (sung in Hebrew of course), the men and women sat separately. It was very nice to finally get to participate in a synagogue service. It would have been nicer if I had been able to sing along, but alas, I cannot read Hebrew (yet).

I guess what I’ve discovered so far is that it’s not necessary to take a firm stance on one side over the other, but as Dr. Sabella said it is necessary to understand both sides of the story. I hope to continue to do that through first hand experience.


Me and my little Palestinian friends.


Ramadan feast - and the reason I am getting fat.


Me and my friend Lyle of Arabia.


Heading out to the city.


Dave and I after synagogue. We thought we fit the part quite well.