Two Encounters

Yesterday I had two contrasting encounters that made me very reflective of the way foreigners are treated here.

In the morning, I was walking back along the main street from swimming, and a guy selling watermelons literally stepped right into my path, sliced off a small piece from the melon he was holding, and offered it as a free taster. While doing this the following conversation took place:
Him: Are you a Christian?
Me: Pardon?
Him: Are you a Christian?
Me: Yes.
Him: Where are you from?
Me: I live in Canada.
His response to this was to kiss his teeth loudly and dismissively, and walk away. Now I've endured my fair share of occasion insults and tirades while I've been here, especially since the economic siege began to really kick in, and heightened by the recent massacres in Lebanon. However, usually it'll come from someone sat next to you in a service. This guy actually went out of his way to insult me, and he was stood there selling Israeli watermelons! [If there's one thing Palestinians don't need to import it's fruit and veg.]

Yesterday evening I was returning from Ramallah in a private taxi. The driver also asked me where I was from, and when I told him he replied 'you're very welcome' [Ahlan wa Sahlan]. We started chatting and it turns out he was from Jenin, but had moved to Ramallah four years ago for work, since there is 'no work' in Jenin. He lives in a flat with some other guys, and only visits his wife and four children once every two weeks. By the time I reach home, he had invited me to his village (a fairly common invitation when you talk to anyone longer than 5 minutes here), and we said a very warm goodbye.

The contrast couldn't be clearer, and it made me realize that those people who like to have a go at foreigners would do so regardless of the current situation. Up till now I've almost excused such behaviour because, let's face it, Western governments really are screwing Palestine, and if it helps these people to insult someone foreign and get some catharsis, who am I to stand in the way. However, I've now decided now that such people are just [censored] who are mean and nasty. I've met plenty of warm and hospitable Palestinians, even in some cases when I know they don't like foreigners or their governments, to know that I should treat people who go round insulting strangers as I would anywhere else in the world.