In previous episodes, we conducted two separate interviews with Jewish women who lived in the city of Lod, and who experienced there, in the days of rioting between Jews and Arabs inside Israel in May 2021, the violence from their Arab neighbors directed at Jews. In this interview, we speak with an Arab woman who lives in East Jerusalem, who experienced the other side of this terrible picture … Jewish violence, and Arabs living in fear.
As always, I let her tell her story as she experienced it. I didn’t question the Jewish woman on claims that they made, nor did I do so in this interview. There are pieces of her descriptions that are painful to listen to—yet in the spirit of challenging us all to expose ourselves to sides of this story with which we are uncomfortable, I think it’s important to hear what she has to say.
As different as Iyman’s story is from that of Tahel or Dena, the other women we interviewed, listen carefully and you’ll hear parallels. The utter ineffectiveness of the police. The fear. A sense of desperation. And despite everything, a hope that somehow, Jews and Arabs in this land can learn to live together.
Here’s our conversation.
Music credits: Medieval poem by Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Gvirol. Melody and performance by Shaked Jehuda and Eyal Gesundheit. Production by Eyal Gesundheit. To view a video of their performance, see this YouTube:
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