Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: Voor meer tolerantie is er meer ... toerisme nodig?
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.
en een vredesopbouwer,
and a peacebuilder,
I remember watching television
televisie aan het kijken was
a fun thing to do.
and threw rocks,
en gooide met stenen,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
naar Israëlische auto's moest gooien.
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
de auto's van mijn buren. (Gelach)
about my patriotism.
mijn vaderlandsliefde.
and I know what you're thinking:
ik weet wat jullie denken:
what the heck happened to you?"
is er in hemelsnaam gebeurd?"
of throwing stones.
wegens stenen gooien.
to confess that he threw stones,
ontkende dat hij dat gedaan had.
he was released from prison.
zijn vrijlating overleed.
Hebrew to get a job,
had om een baan te kunnen vinden
in that classroom
ik Hebreeuws studeerde
who were not soldiers.
tegen die geen soldaten waren.
like the fact that I love country music,
feit dat ik van countrymuziek hou,
for Palestinians.
is voor een Palestijn.
that we have a wall of anger,
haat en onwetendheid, die ons scheidt.
that separates us.
what happens to me.
wat er met me gaat gebeuren.
to dedicate my life
leven toe te gaan wijden
that separate people.
die mensen van elkaar scheiden.
but also media and education,
maar ook media en scholing.
really, can tourism change things?
voor verandering kunnen zorgen?
to bring down those walls
manier om deze muren af te breken
of connecting with each other
we met elkaar in contact kunnen komen
mede-oprichter van Mejdi Tours,
aims to connect people,
richt op het verbinden van mensen.
we would have two tour guides,
Jeruzalem twee reisleiders hadden,
guiding the trips together,
samen de tripjes begeleidden
and archaeology and conflict
en archeologie en conflicten
with a friend named Kobi --
samen met mijn vriend Kobi --
the trip was in Jerusalem --
Chicago, dit was in Jeruzalem --
a Palestinian refugee camp,
vluchtelingenkamp, een Palestijns kamp
food called maqluba.
and you flip it upside-down.
zet het daarna op z'n kop.
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
met Israëliërs en Palestijnen
I'll teach you later.
zal ik het je straks leren.
waren allebei de kanten
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
verhoudingen nog steeds.
if the one billion people
internationaal reizen
every year travel like this,
de andere plek gebracht worden,
from one side to another,
of their buses of people and cultures,
van mensen en culturen,
a Muslim group from the U.K.
moslims uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
Orthodoxe familie bezocht
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
diner at, het sabbat-diner.
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
een Joods gerecht, een stamppot.
of realizing, after a while,
their families came out
for your Facebook.
doen en anders te gaan reizen.
to change your travel.
om de wereld te veranderen.
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