Schmoozing with the 'other'

Yesterday Tal, Yotam, and I visited our friend Rauf at his home in Kfar Qara. Rauf is a very well known and influential community leader in the area, and is the director of the Jewish Arab coexistence program "In the other's eyes" at Givat Haviva, the Hashomer Hatzair center for peace activism. In the last four years, we have hosted his program at our summer camp (Camp Shomria), with three different groups of Jewish, Arab, and Bedouin Israelis living and learning together in what can be a profoundly difficult process. Rauf is by any measure a visionary with great hopes for humanity and confidence in the good of every person. He is also a proud Arab, Palestinian, and Israeli, an identity that shapes the way he approaches the difficult issues that we have come here to grapple with.
After feeding us an amazing post-Ramadan feast, we sat together and jumped right into discussing (in hebrew of course) some of the most contentious issues facing the region, from the political and social repercussions of the Israel-Lebanon war to the most fundamental theoretical assumptions of Zionism and its consequences for the people of this region. One point that Rauf drove home was the fact that bombs don't distinguish between Arab and Jew. When katyushas were falling on Israel this summer, Arab and Jew alike sought shelter together. The same applies with regards to the nuclear threat posed by Iran: the Arabs of the region feel equally vulnerable.
After dinner Rauf brought us on a whirlwind tour of the village, introducing us as Americans who work for a peace organization that are going to be teaching English in Barta. Everyone we met, thanks to Rauf's charisma and status in the village, was extremely welcoming. "America! Welcome!" resounded from the previously intimidating group of men at the cafe.
He then took us to Barta, which was my first time in the village where I will be spending the better part of 5 months working on this trip. Split in half by the green line, it is a fascinating nexus of different identities and also, due to the low taxes and cheap labor on the palestinian side, has become a bustling center of commerce in the Israeli Arab world. From shawarma to firecrackers to tshirts, people from all over the region are peddling their wares like crazy and making deals like there's no tomorrow.
During the ride home I was glad to be safely on route to a gated kibbutz, but happily removed from a comfort zone I would not seek to return to. I am very excited for what is to come on our journey.