George's Story

Wednesday, August 19, 2008

In 2000 (or thereabouts), when Hezbollah was bombing the northern part of Israel near the Sea of Galilee, George and his girlfriend at the time decided to take a trip to visit the Sea. They didn't have a permit, however, and were forced to turn back towards Bethlehem. On the way, they passed a group of Israeli soldiers hitchhiking and decided to pick them up. George and his girlfriend posed as Americans, speaking only English to the soldiers. After a pleasant drive they dropped of the soldiers where they'd requested. As the soldier thanked them and walked off, George called out "Masalaama!" and drove off, leaving the soldiers to ponder the fact that they'd just accepted a ride from "the enemy" Palestinians.

("Masalaama" means "good-bye" in Arabic)