Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
satisfying my curiosity about our world and its challenges by traveling and talking to
people—I believe that the people most in danger of being duped are actually those who
stay home.
Traveling through the Holy Land, my heart was a shuttlecock, flipping back and forth
between sympathy for Israel and solidarity with Palestine. I'm saddened by the many
people—in Israel, Palestine, or the USA—who are so hardened on one side or the oth-
er that they cannot allow themselves to find empathy with the society they consider the
enemy. Even if one side is the enemy, it's not the entire society—just its leaders or its ex-
tremists. Just like American children of Catholic parents tend to be Catholic, and children
of Lutheran parents tend to be Lutheran, children of the Holy Land have their parents'
baggage from the start. And very few are packing light around here.
In this land, so treasured by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, I'm reminded that the proph-
ets of each of these religions taught us to love our neighbors.
I'm concerned that—as a result of the societal and physical barriers that separate
them—people on both sides will not get to know each other. It's next to impossible for Is-
raelis and Palestinians to connect in any way. Consider this: Israelis and Palestinians who
are soccer fans, curiously, root for the same Madrid and Barcelona teams—but many don't
