The Future is Peace, Day 3, The Green Line

By Nate Feldman

Summary: In this chapter, Maoz and Aziz travel to the area in which Aziz grew up, in the Eastern part of Jerusalem.  Maoz gets to meet Aziz's family there.  

Aziz retells the story of his brother Tayseer, someone who was his protector during his childhood.  He recalls how Tayseer was arrested and sent to an Israeli detention center.  He would eventually be released and return home.  However, injuries he sustained while detained eventually led to his premature death. 

Aziz also discusses his father's life.  He sold fruit products throughout the Arab world when Eastern Jerusalem and what is now known as the West Bank were under Jordanian control.  After the Israelis took over the West Bank during the 1967 Six Days War, his father's business was ruined.   

Maoz discusses how when he was enlisted in the Israeli military how he used to patrol checkpoints, no more than a couple of miles from where Aziz grew up.  He talked about how overwhelming and stressful this duty was and mentioned how some Israelis commit suicide after military service because of the trauma they endure.  

The chapter movingly concludes by describing the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how even after being cut down they regrow.  It mentions how they have witnessed many conflicts throughout history.  Their longevity and ability to regrow is supposed to be a metaphor about how people in the region can regrow after conflict.  

My thoughts: As I felt saddened by what happened to Maoz's parents and friends on October 7, I likewise feel sorrow for what happened to Aziz's brother.  There is no doubt that this conflict has taken way too many lives prematurely on both sides, which is why the work that these two men do is so essential and their message of enough is enough resonates. 

I also can understand Aziz's feelings about checkpoints throughout Palestinian areas and how disruptive this is for life.  When I first met Iman, my former wife, she was living with her family in Tulkarem, a city in the northern West Bank.  Traveling between Tulkarem and other Palestinian towns was excruciatingly long because of the endless checkpoints leading out of the city and along the roads.  In fact, I remember her wanting to introduce me to family in Jericho, another Palestinian West Bank city, and insisting we don't do it because it would take so long and I didn't want to have to deal with Israeli soldiers commenting on my Jewish surname in front of her relatives.  In this chapter, he talked about the long lines and not being treated well at these checkpoints, and I definitely saw experiences like that.  

I would be interested to see how other Israelis feel about their military experiences, especially those who must guard checkpoints and whether they felt it was traumatic or not.