For those of you reading this who may not be aware, I am a Jew living in the town of Neve Daniel — what most of the world would refer to as a West Bank Settlement. I am very comfortable with my rights to this land and do not feel that anything is amiss with Jewish settlement in the heart of Judea. I have no desire to displace Arabs or undermine their lives. I spend my free time riding bikes, not chopping down someone’s olive trees.

The region I live in has both Jewish and Arab towns. From the news, you would get the idea that we are constantly at war with one another. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some terrible acts in the five years we have lived here. People have been killed in gruesome terrorist acts including a young man from Neve Daniel. We are aware that many Palestinian children are indoctrinated to hate Jews from very young ages.

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Before making Aliyah, my views on Arabs and Israelis were fairly black and white. Years of watching newscasts of Egged buses blown to smithereens along with all the men, women, and children inside had led me to the conclusion that all Arabs were really, really bad. On moving to Israel I would do my best to have absolutely nothing to do with them, to keep my distance. I would certainly not employ any of them.

Last week I was sitting in my kitchen and the Palestinian working next to me calmly turned to me and said, “Jar-dan, give me a knife please!” After being surrounded on a daily basis by Palestinians with an assortment of drills, hammers, saws, and other tools which could have dismembered me in a few seconds, I realized how silly it would be to suddenly refuse to hand him my knife. So I did and wondered what had happened to my previous notions.

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