Two Conversations with Israelis about "Arabs" -November 14, 2011

Our hike on the "Jesus Trail" has taken us out of the cities and towns where Palestinians are in the majority into Jewish towns and villages, some of them with histories going back to the early days of Zionist immigration into Israel, many of them adjacent to the ruins of Palestinian villages that were "de-populated" or "abandoned" in the 1948 war and subsequently destroyed. In one of these villages we had a chance to talk in some depth to two under-40 Israelis, a woman and a man, about their take on "the conflict".

We notice immediately that most Jewish Israelis we have met refer not to "Palestinians" but instead "Arabs", something we think you learn to do from an early age as part of the Israeli socialization that there is no Palestine, only Israel.

The woman is candidly mournful and stuck in her despair about the conflict. One to one, in public contexts of daily life, she has cordial conversations and relationships with Palestinians. Her experience is that if she tries to take a relationship from the public sphere into a private space, she is politely rebuffed. She tells us a story about a great conversation with an Arab cab driver about an aspect of their lives they have in common. She invites him to bring his wife over to visit with her and her husband to explore a family decision each couple is facing. Maybe the conversation would be beneficial for both. "I don't think that would be possible", she is told.

In the second conversation later that day, a man shares with us his perceptions of Arab cultures, and countries, and the ways in which their behavior makes the conflict so intractable. Some of his insights are well- known and well- founded, while others seem stereotyped to us, even racist. It's clear that he has well formed opinions that Arab culture is prone to violence and is fragmented, still tribal, so that identified leaders are difficult to trust because you aren't sure who they speak for.

These two conversations have a familiar feel to them, reminding us of ones we have all the time with white liberals who feel stuck when it comes to "race relations" in the US. Very few have African American friends, and find that any public or professional relationships are difficult to move from the public to the private sphere. There is also a tendency to have many well-formed opinions about African American culture, and leaders. Like the Jewish Israelis we met, we may express our frustration through the heart or through the head, but in the end, we aren't sure what we, each, personally can do to change anything.

Location:Illaniya, Israel