News from the Region
2007 Olive Harvest Delegation
Report #2, Part 5 of 6
Perspectives of Three Generations
By Ursula Gallagher
Jenin, November 1-2 - I will remember our home stays after the Olive Harvest Festival for a long time. We were taken in by a very welcoming, friendly extended Palestinian family of three generations. The men were open, while the wife and daughter were shy at first, not allowing us to take pictures of them.
We were invited into their beautiful living room and into, for me, a very interesting conversation. Right after a brief introduction, the 22 year old nephew let us know that there might be some differences of opinion as his uncle was the Fateh leader in the community, and he himself, a fourth year student of economy and law, sympathized with Hamas. I expected sparks to fly; the conversation for the next two hours was generated by mutual respect and interest. The nephew was interested in our opinion of Hamas and Fateh, which we expressed with honesty.
I was struck however by the intense curiosity in our reasons for coming to Palestine. “You are Americans, have money to travel anywhere you want to go and you come to Palestine. Why?” Why? They were baffled! All our answers were insufficient. Finally the uncle and Fateh leader expressed his suspicion that we might be spies from the US government. I almost felt like laughing and told him that of course we were not. Our conversation continued and their warm hospitality permeated the whole evening. We closed our time before retiring for the night with several group pictures.
That night I could not go to sleep and continued to dwell on the assertion that we could be spies. By morning I reopened the subject again: “You know most of us on this delegation are Christians, believers in a universal God. We have come here to bring you love.” Our farewell was warm; we left as friends with smiles and many hands waving us on our way.
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