“I’m always feeling in the middle of it. I would often find myself needing to help explain to my Jewish friends in Kids4Peace what my Arab friends meant in certain discussions. The Jews actually laugh with me and tell me I’m the most ‘Arab-Jew’ they have ever met. Sometimes I get in these conversations and I feel like I’m really on both sides— defending one side in one sentence and the next moment, defending the other side!”
- Shali – Jewish-Israeli participant, 15 years old
One of my best friends in school told me about Kids4Peace, and several other of our friends too, and we were all accepted.
I speak fluent Arabic—because of my school, the Hand-In-Hand school, and I have been there since first grade. Most of my friends now are Arab—I get along with the Arabs. So, because of my language ability, for the first few years in Kids4Peace, you could say I was the bridge between the Jews and the Arabs. They didn’t know how to speak to each other—so I was able to help both sides talk to each other.
When you meet Arabs at a very young age, and they meet you, there’s no difference—we’re all children and we can be friends.
While I understand both sides it’s hard to say which side I fall on. It depends. Honestly, during the political discussions at Kids4Peace, I find myself confused to which side I should support. Because, while I am Jewish and I am Israeli, I don’t automatically take that side—because most of my friends are Arab, I can see and understand their narrative. I can see the whole picture.
I’m always feeling in the middle of it. I would often find myself needing to help explain to my Jewish friends in Kids4Peace what my Arab friends meant in certain discussions. The Jews actually laugh with me and tell me I’m the most ‘Arab-Jew’ they have ever met. Sometimes I get in these conversations and I feel like I’m really on both sides— defending one side in one sentence and the next moment, defending the other side!
I think that meeting with Arabs who don’t know Hebrew (unlike the Arabs at my school), has allowed me to improve my communication skills in more ways, and make friends with people who don’t already come from families that would send their kids to Hand-In-Hand. Their opinions are a lot more raw, or different, than what I’m used to. It’s been so interesting to be around these very different opinions and be exposed to their lives and perspectives.
I don’t know where I stand—except that I AM the most ‘Arab-Jew’—this is my story. To be an Israeli-Jew, but to have most of my friends from the other side, and speak Arabic, and be part of their culture… this is my story, to be part of both sides.
