Last night at a guest house I had the experience of sitting at the same dinner table with Palestinians and Israeli's who are friends. That is an experience I haven't had so far, and it was really great. I've had so many moments with Palestinians and other foreigners, but never with Israelis, but last night it felt no different, except that at one point in the conversation, we were talking about this article which came out in the NYTimes recently, and this snippet of conversation followed:
Ahmad: "My grandparents left Haifa in 1948."
Sara: "My grandparents moved to haifa in 1948".
Ahmad smiled broadly and made a gesture of welcome: "Ahlan wa sahlan." he said.
There was of course a great deal of irony, but no bitterness, which impressed me. It was the closest thing to coexistence I've ever experienced here.
Here are photos from Hisham's Palace which I visited this morning in Jericho. A very impressive archeological site. And it seemed there were baths in every room. The caliphs liked them some hammam!
Ahmad: "My grandparents left Haifa in 1948."
Sara: "My grandparents moved to haifa in 1948".
Ahmad smiled broadly and made a gesture of welcome: "Ahlan wa sahlan." he said.
There was of course a great deal of irony, but no bitterness, which impressed me. It was the closest thing to coexistence I've ever experienced here.
Here are photos from Hisham's Palace which I visited this morning in Jericho. A very impressive archeological site. And it seemed there were baths in every room. The caliphs liked them some hammam!
The rose window was three stories up in the original palace. When the earthquake destroyed the palace in the 8th century it fell to the ground and was destroyed. Archeologists pieced it back together last century. That must have been a very gratifying puzzle.
The pamphlet said this tree of life mosaic is one of the most famous in the world - have you ever heard of it?
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