Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
阿齊茲‧阿布‧沙拉: 要得到更多的忍讓,我們需的是更多的觀光業
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,
I remember watching television
a fun thing to do.
and threw rocks,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
以色列的車子扔石頭,
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
(笑聲)
about my patriotism.
and I know what you're thinking:
而我也知道你正在想什麼啦,
what the heck happened to you?"
在你身上到底發生過什麼鳥事啊?」
of throwing stones.
to confess that he threw stones,
他就受到毆打了,
he was released from prison.
Hebrew to get a job,
in that classroom
見到不是軍人的猶太人,
who were not soldiers.
like the fact that I love country music,
就像是我喜愛鄉村音樂這個事實,
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
that separates us.
what happens to me.
to dedicate my life
that separate people.
but also media and education,
也還有媒體和教育等等,
really, can tourism change things?
旅遊業可以改變事情嗎?
的方法來拉低這些屏障,
to bring down those walls
of connecting with each other
連結彼此、產生友誼。
共同成立了Mejdi旅行社,
aims to connect people,
we would have two tour guides,
guiding the trips together,
一起導覽行程,
and archaeology and conflict
考古學以及衝突,
共同導覽一個行程,
with a friend named Kobi --
the trip was in Jerusalem --
行程是在耶路撒冷裡,
a Palestinian refugee camp,
一個巴勒斯坦人的難民營;
food called maqluba.
叫做「maqluba」,
and you flip it upside-down.
然後你把它從上到下翻轉過來,
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
以色列還有巴勒斯坦的樂手,
I'll teach you later.
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
if the one billion people
every year travel like this,
from one side to another,
of their buses of people and cultures,
拍人和拍文化背景,
a Muslim group from the U.K.
來自英國的穆斯林們,
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
「安息日晚餐」,
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
of realizing, after a while,
their families came out
for your Facebook.
to change your travel.
來改變你的旅程,
everywhere to change the world.
要來改變世界。
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