Claiming the Right to Say No-30 Nov 09-EQUATIONS - Equitable ...

Claiming the Right to Say No
bookstall and talked to the girls who were running the business.
One of them replied when asked about the Israelis, that they don’t
buy many books but bargain a lot. Sometimes their boss drives
them away. Whereas tourists from other nations buy the books for
the price offered to them.
Perception of Israeli Tourists by Other Tourists
I talked to a handful of tourists from Australia, US, UK and Russia. All of
them affirmed that Israelis are very rough and arrogant people, with an
exception of few. Israelis don’t want to include others in their group. One
lady from UK said that most of the Israeli tourists can be found in Arambol
and nearby beaches. She added that they resort to fight even at the
slightest uneasiness caused to them. The other foreign tourists don’t like
to stay in guest houses where the Israeli tourists stay.
My Encounter with the Israelis
For two days we collected information from secondary source. But after
that we met the Israelis and talked with them. The Israelis which I met
were not very rich people but in our terms I would call them middle class
citizens of Israel. Most of them worked as security guards and one of them
even disclosed his annual salary which was somewhat over $2000. Their
government gives them some money for holidays as soon as they finish
their military service. They have to serve in the army (a boy serves for 3
years while a girl serves for 2 years) compulsorily. If they try to escape,
then they are either beaten up or imprisoned. This military service begins
at the age of 18, and after that their education.
I asked them about the relationship between Israel and Palestine. They
say that Israel is a small well organized country and Palestinians want to
take away their country. The Palestinians come and stay and then they
say that it is their country. They come to Jerusalem with bombs all over
their body and just blow themselves up claiming several lives. Then they
throw missiles on them and kill their people heartlessly. I asked them
about what their government is doing about the situation. They say that
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