I am Palestinian but have never been there. The war happened in 1967 and my dad had to move to Jordan. I was born in Kuwait then we moved to Dubai. My mom is an American and my uncle lived in Mobile. I finished my degree in mechanical engineering at South. I have been here for over 12 years.

My dad is a refugee and I can’t go back to Jerusalem because of the conflict. Anyone who left in 1967 doesn’t have the right to go back. I can go to the West Bank, but I can’t go to Jerusalem. It is complicated. In 1948, Israel was smaller than it is now, but in the war of 1967 people became refugees. Israel took more land. The Palestinians are asking for their own state based on the 1967 map but that will never happen. The Israeli settlements are taking more and more land. Israel has the power to work it out. I am on the Palestinian side not because I am Palestinian but because Palestinians don’t have anything and it isn’t fair to put the blame on them. You can’t ask them not to fight for their freedom or take what they have and not expect them to fight back. It is an occupation. There is not a nicer way to put it. What did I do to not get to see my homeland? After Arafat passed, things got worse. The conflict needs young blood and my generation. The older people on both sides are too hard to discuss the issues and find solutions.

I am against killing, no one has the right to take someone’s life. We all deserve to live in peace. You have to be flexible to negotiate the issues and do right for your people and be fair to the other side. Netanhayu is the worst person for this kind of conflict. There is no leadership or support on the Palestinian side and the people are depressed. You can do whatever you want until you hurt a Palestinian’s dignity, then he is going to go crazy and do something. Palestine is very small and it is taking people four and five hours to get to their jobs because of checkpoints. What is wrong with living like normal people? It is a bigger conflict than land. Years ago, the British gave something that doesn’t belong to them to someone else to solve a problem in the ’40s. If the US can’t be fair in the conflict, it should step out.

The whole world is on the edge and busy and everything is about money. Once there was just one problem everyone talked about. Once the Israeli Palestinian conflict was a big deal. Then Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. It is good to know what is going on around you, but don’t like to see the news anymore. It is too much. It is all about money, not just land.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to live a good life and not hurt anyone. We have one God we all share. I don’t have time to judge. It is God’ job, let him do his job. All religions share a thought of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There is good and bad in any religion and culture, it is human nature. You can meet a Palestinian who is an asshole, you can meet an American who is one, too. Traveling makes people sit down and listen and start with similarities. I need to talk to people different from me and hear their opinions. I want conversations based on logic and truth and to hear the other side. If we have different opinions, it doesn’t mean we are enemies. When you sit down and hear the stories, you build your own knowledge and understand the situations. Fairness is so important.