I sat next to
an Israeli on the plane today on my trip from Sydney to Melbourne. It was a
domestic flight and it was a short hop. The journey took a little over one hour
as we had a tail breeze. The Israeli and I chatted the whole way. He seemed
like an intense fucker so I eased my way into a discussion about Palestine. I
didn't open with it. That would have been risky and it could have been
dangerous but it was always on the cards though - once I knew he was
Israeli.
How could it
not be?
The guy from
Israel is an I.T dude. He is a software engineer and not a real engineer. He
doesn't build anything. He just writes maths. The Israeli's name is Benjamin
but he told me to call him Ben. I told him to call me Peter because that is my
name. We sat in Business class. It is a perk of our work.
When he told
me that he was from Israel I said, "Shalom Alykhem" to him.
The Australian translation of this is "Hello. Howzitgoin?"
and it is all the Yiddish I have got. It broke the ice. I then captured his
interest when I informed Ben that I worked for an Investment Bank. A very big
one. At his initiation we swapped business cards. I have lost his already. I
may have left it on the plane and I don't mind in the least. I have no
intention of ever contacting him again.
I have met
Israeli's before. I have conversed and engaged with them. I have met them in
Europe, Singapore, India and in Nepal. The Israelis who I have met in Kathmandu
go there just to smoke hashish. They go there solely to get wasted. A
commonality with all of the Israeli's that I have met is their declaration that
it is a very strange life that they live. They tell me that they are surrounded
by an Arabic world who hate them and want to kill them. They tell me that they hate
and want to kill the Arabs back.
It is insane
and it is madness. Ben let me know in no uncertain terms that Israel is under
constant threat. This is a lot of pressure and there must be much tension. It
is no wonder they go to Kathmandu - just to get wasted.
Ben told me
with a great deal of passion that the world had no idea what it was like to be
Israeli. When he used the word "Arab" he spat it with obvious
contempt. He said the word as if it was dirt in his mouth. I greatly sympathize
with the people of Palestine and their cause but I did not voice this empathy to
Ben. Israelis are trained to kill with both weapons and their bare hands. They
are trained to kill Arabs. They are portentous and I am a coward.
I did not wish
to upset him.
I told Ben
that I liked the song by the British band The Cure called "Killing an
Arab". I did so in an endeavour to endear myself a little. He didn't
seem to know the song even though I sang the opening few lines of the tune for
him. They are:
"Standing
on the beach with a gun in my hand. Staring at the beach. Staring at the sand.
Staring down the barrel with a gun in my hand. I can see his open mouth but I
hear no sound. I'm alive. I'm dead. Killing an Arab."
He still
didn't know it.
Ben and I
discussed the great change that is happening in the Middle East. We observed
and concurred that with the overthrow of dictators such as Mubarak in Egypt,
Gadaffi in Libya - and the current efforts to depose Assad in Syria - the Arab
world is changing. Ben told me that he does not know how this will impact
Israel and I told him that either do I.
I have no
idea.
When the plane
landed in Melbourne Ben and I disembarked together. We shook hands and we said
goodbye. I said this in English and so did he.
I do not know
the Yiddish for 'Goodbye".
I
only know, "Hello. Howzitgoin?"
and I thought asking a Punjabi taxi driver if the indians really did hate the Pakistani people was treading a thin line....
ReplyDeleteR. Marmot