Instead of working odd jobs, getting an internship or taking classes this summer like a normal college student, I decided to go to the Middle East. I spent the majority of my time in the West Bank, even though the U.S. Department of State advised to stay clear of the Palestinian territories. What I saw has completely changed my views and understanding of American foreign policy in the Middle East.
When I arrived in Ben Gurion Airport, I was supposed to be picked up by an Israeli government official. When he failed to show up, I called the only other person I knew, a Palestinian government official who lived maybe 30 minutes away from the airport. He informed me that as a Palestinian, he was not allowed to travel into Israeli territory, so I would have to take a taxi. When I made it to the checkpoint that blocked entry into the town of Qalqilya, I was held up by Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and after being rudely treated and subjected to racist comments about Arabs, was permitted to go through.
My hosts in the city of Qalqilya were far more gracious than I ever could have asked, and they refused any monetary contribution. They showed me how they live their lives, complete with a wall that surrounds their entire city. The IDF had closed their library, and the only thing to do was to swim in a pool. The men at the pool had scars on their arms from when they cut themselves during the period the Israelis blockaded the city. Their collective psychology is something I cannot begin to understand.
Following my stay there, I had the opportunity to travel to all of the major cities in the West Bank. In Bethlehem, I was screamed at by an IDF commander for getting off our bus after we had been held three hours without reason. In Hebron, a girl in our group was hit in the head by a rock thrown by a right-wing Israeli settler, and we saw a building where children had been burned alive because their house had been mistaken as a base for militants. In Ramallah a friend showed me where Mossad agents had gunned down three men in the middle of the street. I saw and heard evidence and stories of violence that still make me cringe, and the American taxpayer finances the weapons that do it.
I also got to go to the Israeli cities of Haifa, Tel Aviv and Kfar Saba. I heard stories about children dying from bombs, though far less often than in West Bank. I witnessed families being evicted from homes they have lived in for 50 years in East Jerusalem, all in an effort to remove Arabs from the city that Israel wants as its undivided capital.
In my experience, the conflict has generated a tribal mentality on the part of Israelis, and many believe the world is against them. Because they are so few, they feel they must respond a thousand fold when they experience violence, as in the case of Gaza.
The United States must resist the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and use all available resources to press for peace in the Middle East. Israel can only be sustainable if it comes to an agreement with the Palestinians. It seems that violence will bring only more violence, and that a normal life for either side will never be possible so long as both peoples live under threat, whether that is from a homemade bomb or a fighter jet. Even Hamas has said that peace with Israel would be possible if it allows complete Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem, Gaza and West Bank. While the devil may be in the details, the Obama administration has taken a position on the conflict that will advance the cause of peace and therefore the cause of Palestinians and Israelis.
Travis Hornsby is an economics and political science sophomore.
