Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: Für mehr Toleranz brauchen wir mehr... Tourismus?
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,
und Friedensstifter.
I remember watching television
mit Steinen werfen.
a fun thing to do.
and threw rocks,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
gegen israelische Autos werfen sollte.
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
auf dem Auto meiner Nachbarn.
about my patriotism.
waren sie nicht gerade begeistert.
and I know what you're thinking:
ich weiß, was Sie jetzt denken:
what the heck happened to you?"
Du sahst so süß aus!"
of throwing stones.
mit Steinen geworfen hatte.
to confess that he threw stones,
weil er sich geweigert hat, zu gestehen,
he was released from prison.
seiner Freilassung erlag.
Hebrew to get a job,
um einen Job zu bekommen.
in that classroom
zum ersten Mal Juden kennen,
who were not soldiers.
like the fact that I love country music,
wegen der kleinsten Dinge an,
was sehr unüblich für Palästinenser ist.
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
Wut und Ignoranz trennt.
that separates us.
what happens to me.
was mir passiert,
to dedicate my life
dieser Mauer zu widmen.
that separate people.
but also media and education,
aber auch Medien und Bildung.
really, can tourism change things?
ob Tourismus wirklich helfen kann.
to bring down those walls
nachhaltigste Weg dafür.
of connecting with each other
Kontakte zu knüpfen,
mit zwei jüdischen Freunden
aims to connect people,
we would have two tour guides,
ein Israeli und ein Palästinenser,
guiding the trips together,
eine Tour zusammen leiten,
and archaeology and conflict
Archäologie und Konflikte
Standpunkten aus erzählen.
with a friend named Kobi --
geführt von mir und meinem Freund Kobi,
the trip was in Jerusalem --
a Palestinian refugee camp,
Flüchtlingslager besuchten
sie ist echt spitze. (Bild)
food called maqluba.
and you flip it upside-down.
und dreht das Ganze dann um.
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
Band spielte,
wenn Sie es nicht können.
I'll teach you later.
da sie noch nicht weg wollten.
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
halten diese Freundschaften immer noch.
die eine Milliarde Menschen,
if the one billion people
every year travel like this,
von A nach B gefahren,
from one side to another,
of their buses of people and cultures,
aus dem Busfenster machend,
mit den anderen in Kontakt treten!
a Muslim group from the U.K.
muslimische Gruppe aus Großbritannien,
jüdischen Familie besuchte,
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
ihr erstes Sabbat-Essen hatte.
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
einen jüdischen Eintopf,
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
of realizing, after a while,
vor Hunderten von Jahren
their families came out
im nördlichen Afrika kamen.
for your Facebook.
to change your travel.
um die Welt zu ändern.
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