Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: För mer tolerans, behöver vi mer ... turism?
Aziz Abu Sarah helps people break down cultural and historical barriers through tourism. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
and a peacebuilder,
och fredsbyggare,
att jag brukade titta på TV
I remember watching television
a fun thing to do.
måste ju vara en rolig grej.
och kastade sten,
and threw rocks,
att jag skulle kasta på israeliska bilar.
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
stenade mina grannars bilar. (Skratt)
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
about my patriotism.
över min patriotism.
och jag vet vad ni tänker:
and I know what you're thinking:
vad tusan var det som hände?"
what the heck happened to you?"
att ha kastat sten.
of throwing stones.
to confess that he threw stones,
att erkänna att han kastat sten
fick han inre skador
he was released from prison.
att han släppts ut ur fängelset.
för att kunna få ett jobb,
Hebrew to get a job,
i det där klassrummet
in that classroom
who were not soldiers.
jag träffade judar som inte var soldater.
som det att jag älskar country,
like the fact that I love country music,
för palestinier.
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
att vi har en vägg av ilska,
that separates us.
som håller oss isär.
what happens to me.
som händer med mig inte är viktigt.
är hur jag hanterar det.
att viga mitt liv
to dedicate my life
that separate people.
som särar människor från varandra.
but also media and education,
men också media och utbildning,
really, can tourism change things?
verkligen, kan turism förändra saker?
to bring down those walls
för att riva murarna
of connecting with each other
att förenas med varandra
och grundade Mejdi Tours,
att knyta samman människor,
aims to connect people,
kan det tilläggas,
som vi utformade,
we would have two tour guides,
brukar vi ha två guider,
som tillsammans gör rundturerna,
guiding the trips together,
och arkeologi och konflikt
and archaeology and conflict
tillsammans med min vän Kobi -
with a friend named Kobi --
the trip was in Jerusalem --
resan var till Jerusalem -
a Palestinian refugee camp,
ett palestinskt läger,
food called maqluba.
som heter maqluba.
and you flip it upside-down.
och vänder det sen upp och ner.
israeliska och palestinska musiker,
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
I'll teach you later.
kan jag lära dig senare.
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
att den miljard människor
if the one billion people
every year travel like this,
från en sevärdhet till en annan,
from one side to another,
of their buses of people and cultures,
av människor och kulturer,
knyta an till människor.
en muslimsk grupp från Storbritannien
a Muslim group from the U.K.
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
en judisk ortodox familj
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
sabbatsmiddagen.
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
som är en judisk rätt, en gryta,
de endast genom insikten
of realizing, after a while,
their families came out
utvandrade deras familjer
för din Facebooksida.
for your Facebook.
att ändra ert sätt att resa.
to change your travel.
når ut överallt för att ändra världen,
everywhere to change the world.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aziz Abu Sarah - Entrepreneur + educatorAziz Abu Sarah helps people break down cultural and historical barriers through tourism.
Why you should listen
When Aziz Abu Sarah was a boy, his older brother was arrested on charges of throwing stones. He was taken to prison and beaten — and died of his injuries. Sarah grew up angry, bitter and wanting revenge. But when later in life he met, for the first time, Jews who were not soldiers, Sarah had an epiphany: Not only did they share his love of small things, namely country music, but coming face to face with the “enemy” compelled him to find ways to overcome hatred, anger and fear.
Sarah founded MEJDI Tours to send tourists to Jerusalem with two guides, one Jewish and one Palestinian, each offering a different history and narrative of the city. Sarah tells success stories of tourists from the US visiting a Palestinian refugee camp and listening to joint Arab and Jewish bands play music, and of a Muslim family from the UK sharing Sabbath dinner with a Jewish family and realizing that 100 years ago, their people came from the same town in Northern Africa. MEJDI is expanding its service to Iran, Turkey, Ireland and other regions suffering from cultural conflict. If more of the world’s 1 billion tourists were to engage with real people living real lives, argues Sarah, it would be a powerful force for shattering sterotypes and promoting understanding, friendship and peace.
Aziz Abu Sarah | Speaker | TED.com