A few months later, I had an invitation to somebody's home to meet a Palestinian friend. I had never before had a conversation with a Palestinian. The woman was a professor of sociology at a Palestinian university. There was nothing in the previous statement that made sense to me. And I walked in the room and sat down, and she was completely like me. She was articulate in English, she had a very cautious, temperate, and humane woman's analysis of the situation, about how her family is suffering under the oppression of the occupation. I had never before heard that said, or met a Palestinian.
She said that the PLO had recognized the State of Israel.
I said, "No, that's impossible, I would know about it if that were true, the newspapers would say so." And she said, "Aren't you aware of the fact that the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, the IBA, has disallowed use of the word PLO and any reports about what they are doing, inside Israel?" I was completely taken aback, and decide to check into it. Then she left, and she said something about how she had to go home because the kids, something, I don't know what. And I thought, "My God, she's running home to be with her family. She's just like me, I have to get out of here too!" I left that place and it was like my mind cracked open, and I went home and I talked to people and I asked them, "Is it true, about the IBA making this ruling?" and they said absolutely, someone named Moshe Negbi had quit because of the ruling, and there was censorship, and there was a whole bureau called the Censorship Bureau, and they showed me newspapers showing that the PLO had met in Tunisia and had acknowledged the existence of the State of Israel and had said, okay, a two-state solution is fine with us. A few months later, I had an invitation to somebody's home to meet a Palestinian friend. I had never before had a conversation with a Palestinian. The woman was a professor of sociology at a Palestinian university. There was nothing in the previous statement that made sense to me. And I walked in the room and sat down, and she was completely like me. She was articulate in English, she had a very cautious, temperate, and humane woman's analysis of the situation, about how her family is suffering under the oppression of the occupation. I had never before heard that said, or met a Palestinian.
She said that the PLO
had recognized the State of Israel.
I said, "No, that's impossible, I would know about it if that were true, the newspapers would say so." And she said, "Aren't you aware of the fact that the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, the IBA, has disallowed use of the word PLO and any reports about what they are doing, inside Israel?" I was completely taken aback, and decide to check into it. Then she left, and she said something about how she had to go home because the kids, something, I don't know what. And I thought, "My God, she's running home to be with her family. She's just like me, I have to get out of here too!" I left that place and it was like my mind cracked open, and I went home and I talked to people and I asked them, "Is it true, about the IBA making this ruling?" and they said absolutely, someone named Moshe Negbi had quit because of the ruling, and there was censorship, and there was a whole bureau called the Censorship Bureau, and they showed me newspapers showing that the PLO had met in Tunisia and had acknowledged the existence of the State of Israel and had said, okay, a two-state solution is fine with us.
That's when I said, "look, I have to see this for myself." I started to visit the Territories
and meet with people and talk to them, and go into their homes and see that they also have flush toilets and they're reading from recipe books and sharing novels with each other. It was an unbelievable experience for me, and then I began to think more seriously about politics, and began to involve myself more. I realized there was a big curtain of silence and concealment behind which an occupation was festering. Little by little I began to devote myself to addressing that.