We feel that Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together… We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement… we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home… our two movements complete one another…and there is room in Syria for us both. Indeed I think that neither can be a real success without the other.[ix]
Such empathy or partnership between Muslims and Jews has become virtually unthinkable. Few people in the region say even as much as “I’m sorry” now—and I know from my own Facebook exchanges how hard it is to find common ground. Imagine what would be possible if people had the guts— and the skill—to stand in each other’s shoes.
And it is possible. André Azoulay, senior advisor to the King of Morocco, jokes that he’s a member of an elite club with one member—him—since he’s the only Jew to hold such a position in any Arab country. Azoulay feels equally Jewish and Arab. “I’m an Arab because I was born in an Arab country, and I’m an Arab because I absorb Arab culture, and I’m an Arab because I live in an Arab environment,” Azoulay said. “If I could only make peace between Jews and Muslims, I would feel that I had fulfilled my life’s ambition.”[x]
And you?
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