Gulf War 1991 - I remember classmates gathered around me on the playground, and me relaying everything I've overheard the adults saying about this outbreak of violence between nations in a region called the Middle East. About the fear that this could be the start of another world war. I remember being thrilled that my class crush at the time (we were in third grade) came over to listen with quiet attention as well. A few months later, I immigrated to the US.
Oslo Accords 1993 - I remember walking into my fifth grade class that morning to find a TV set airing live footage of Rabin, Arafat, and Clinton shaking hands in front of the White House. Our teacher was telling us what a big deal this was, and I wondered why it was in fact such a big deal and why everyone seemed so happy. I noted the applause and smiles and figured it was a good thing. Then we did fifth grade stuff and never talked about it again that year.
Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin 1995 - I remember sitting in the crowded and noisy choir room, waiting for the obligatory Channel One news to finish airing before our conductor did his usual belittling act of shaming us middle school choir members into behaving more like professional musicians. Most of my classmates were communicating with each other through American Sign Language, or laughing and chatting loudly... To be honest, I don't remember if everyone stopped talking when the footage of Rabin's assassination played. I just remember, personally, seeing the blood-stained papers that carried the speech he was about to give and being stunned to a quiet roaring in my ear.
Second Intifada 2000-2005 - I remember hearing about bus bombings, restaurant bombings, night club bombings. But I was also trying to fulfill my college expectations and being crushed daily, so actually during my college years, when I expected to be the most politically active, I wasn't. Unless you count my foray into US prison reform, but I mostly just made friends with prisoners and not much else. I do remember seeing demonstrations on the Michigan U with placards that accused Israel of stealing Palestinian resources. That's when I started reading Edward Said.
Unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza 2005 - Having recently arrived to a new US city (Pittsburgh) after working for a year in Taiwan at my first real job after finishing university, finally completely ending a three-year-long relationship, and touring Paris while fulfilling my promise to visit my closest cousin there... I was staying at my ex-boyfriend's apartment while looking for an apartment of my own. I remember picking up the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette one morning to see Gaza as one of the headlines. Reading through the news article, I had hope for land for peace.
Second Lebanon War 2006 - I remember sitting in my Oregonian neighbor's living room and watching CNN on their TV while I was house-sitting and dog-sitting for them the summer before I return to Pittsburgh and start graduate school. I called up my Jewish cousin (the same one I visited in Paris) and asking some questions on Israel's "disproportionate responses". She shared with me several sources that pointed out the unique practices of the IDF which no other military in the world exercises. It was the start of my disillusionment with all media.
2010 - I don't remember anything noteworthy about Israel...except that I visited it for the first time in my life. My parents' only input when we talked on the phone was how dangerous it was. I returned to Pittsburgh and told my boyfriend (now my husband) how I became open to the possibility of having a child during the trip. (BOOM -> our son)
2012 - My husband, our one-year-old son, and I (five months pregnant with our daughter) moved to Israel. Two months later, Hamas rockets picked up in frequency towards the south and Operation Pillar of Defense began. We checked the news obsessively. My parents called daily to persuade me to get on the next flight out. I spent a ridiculous amount of time arguing online with strangers. I spent the mornings chatting with southern citizens who've came north to wait out the constant sirens; they're easy to spot as they're the only moms beside me who tend to be by themselves at the parks as their children played.
2014 - Again rockets from Hamas and the ongoing Operation Protective Edge. My family's reaction to it very different than two years ago. We have more friends here now, and personally know soldiers who are fighting as well as Israeli Arab friends who either support or hate the IDF. Didn't really hear from my parents aside from some internet jokes sent by my mom and some Confucius sayings from my dad. I unfriended about 300 people on FB--not necessarily for the offense of too much stupid noise over all the shit that went down and are still going on; mainly because it made me realize how many people with whom I've only the scantiest connection. If someone you consider to be a friend doesn't even care or remember you when you're in the middle of a war, it is safe to say they're not really a friend at all. So that helps me to trim back closer to the ideal scientific number of 150 people who I can deeply support as a friend myself.
So this is my personal history/connection with the Middle East, and specifically Israel. It's terrible that for the most part, the memory lane is marked with war. It reminds me of Simeon, a man who prayed all his life "for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25). When Jesus was being dedicated at the Temple, the latter was already a graying old man and he prayed as he saw Jesus: "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
It is with this same longing that I pray daily, that one day--before I die--I might be able to see Palestinian Arabs and Israelis living in the same region as equals without rancor.
