A Palestinian Takes A Different Road In His Fight

Hear and read from Bassam Aramin, the Parents Circle’s Palestinian spokesperson, about his youth in Palestine, and how his time in an Israeli prison and the loss of his daughter Abir to the conflict caused a radical change in his heart, from hatred to peace. From the NPR article:

Bassam Aramin was not born hating Israel, but he learned young.

He was 5 or 6 years old the first time he saw Israeli soldiers. This was about a decade after the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank. Aramin’s large family lived an ancient lifestyle. Like many families in the area, their home was in a cave in the south, near Hebron. They farmed for a living.

Now 46, Aramin looks back on a fast track to hating and to fighting Israel that would be familiar to many Palestinians. But eventually he flipped — both his worldview and his ways.

He credits a very unexpected stir of empathy that happened in an unexpected place.