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Hospitality
- by AA -
Hospitality. That is one of the main words I would use to describe my
experience in Israel-Palestine. In all of the major cities and villages I
visited, again and again, I would hear “You are welcome.” Of course,
some of these were meant as a sales tactic to draw me into shops to buy
various fruits, vegetables, spices, or gifts. But many times the
sentence was uttered freely and genuinely, with no strings attached, as
an invitation to experience hospitality. While walking through the
neighborhood streets of Bethlehem to an office I volunteered in, I
encountered warmth from my neighbors through invitations to come inside
for some food or tea or even just conversation. “Good Morning!” and
“You’re Welcome!” was extended from strangers multiple times on my
commute. In America, my home country, I would never oblige such
requests. One is taught from a young age not to talk with strangers and
certainly not to enter their homes. But Bethlehem held subversive power
to remove my suspicions and the usual divide between strangers.
Sometimes I went inside for tea; sometimes I stopped for a chat.
One of my favorite memories that epitomizes this value of hospitality
in Palestinian culture occurred when I visited a friend’s family living
south of Hebron. For the last few years, I lived in California. While
living there, I became friends with a Palestinian guy who had moved to
the States only a few years ago. When I told him of my upcoming visit to
Israel-Palestine, he invited me to go and visit his family who had
remained in the Palestinian territories. Once I was there staying in
Bethlehem, he arranged for his relatives to pick me up to go and visit
his family. What I learned as I drove with them to their house south of
Hebron is that they had driven an hour and a half to get me and were now
driving me an hour and a half back to their house. Later that night
they would drive me an hour and a half back to Bethlehem and then back
an hour and a half home. Six hours in total for them of driving. For a
girl they didn’t know that their brother in California had called them
and told them to pick up. On their day off when most other days included
hours of commuting for work.
Upon arriving to their family home, I was ushered inside to a
homemade feast of Mansaf, a traditional dish made of lamb, rice, and a
special fermented yogurt sauce. I was then treated to a fashion show of
the women of the family’s beautiful, traditional Palestinian dresses. We
tried our best to converse with their broken English and my broken
Arabic over Arabic coffee and playing with the kids. It had a way of
making me feel like I was at home with my family. I, a stranger to them,
had been welcomed in with incredible effort, from the driving to the
cooking to giving up a day of their time to spend with me. I have never
before or since experienced such hospitality and warmth from strangers.
This experience has continued to motivate me to find ways to extend such
hospitality now that I am back in the States. I hope that someday
everyone will have the chance to experience Palestinian hospitality.
I began to take short one or two second videos of people saying
“You are welcome.” I would hear it from strangers as I walked through
the markets in Ramallah, the old city of Nablus, the busy streets of
Bethlehem, and in the old city of Hebron. I was shocked that despite the
fact that I was American, I was received with warmth. Even though my
government has cut funding and aid to the Palestinian territories,
recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved its embassy
there, and is even now taking more measures to de-legitimize the
Palestinian people and their agency in the conflict, the Palestinians I
met saw me as an individual person, not as a representation of my
government or country. Although I would have understood them expressing
anger towards me for what they’ve endured at the hands of American
foreign policy and lack of aid, they welcomed me with open arms, saying
they like Americans but not always their government. Their openness,
warmth, and hospitality will continue to stick with me and motivate me
to embrace others as they embraced me.
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