The other day, a friend and I were forced to catch a ride on a settler highway. Palestinians are forbidden to travel on these roads (belonging to Israel but in the West Bank??) without special permits. (Also, don’t worry, hitching rides is way normal here). The driver pulled over, let my friend in, and then stopped to ask me where I was from... I replied and he answered, “Well I’m sorry but you looked Arab and you just can’t be too sure these days...”
The word “Arab” is used at all times by many people referring to the situation here... not only is it a word to generalize huge numbers of people in the world, but it is also in place of “Palestinians,” robbing them of their own nationality, even in speech. Ah, the racism is so obvious and permitted! Feeling anger about it doesn’t seem to get you anywhere here.
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