A while back I promised to write a blog entry about something nice, so here it goes:
The Story about How an Israeli Settler Became a Palestinian
About eight years ago, Israel converted most of an illegal settlement close to Ramallah into a military base. The settlers who moved out, left behind their dogs. The dogs who were left became stray dogs and took to the streets and olive groves around Ramallah.
At this time, Tarek and his family lived in an area of Ramallah that is close to this settlement/military base, and one night Tarek found a young, white mutt outside the house. He gave her food to eat and water to drink and left her there on the sidewalk.
The next day when Tarek's Mom came home, she yelped:
"There's a dog in the house!"
Somehow the settler dog had managed to sneak inside the house, and seemed to have no intention of ever leaving again. Tarek's family eventually decided to let her stay.
This was eight years ago. The little white mutt was Jessy. She is nine years old now, and sleeps on the couch in the living room of my boyfriend's family's new house. She eats expensive food for allergy-prone dogs, drinks filtered water, gets vaccination shots from the vet down the street, and lives an all-around comfortable life in a nice neighborhood of Ramallah.
She understands all basic food, walk or other dog related words in Arabic, too, and probably can't even remember a life before her Palestinian family.
The Story about How an Israeli Settler Became a Palestinian
About eight years ago, Israel converted most of an illegal settlement close to Ramallah into a military base. The settlers who moved out, left behind their dogs. The dogs who were left became stray dogs and took to the streets and olive groves around Ramallah.
At this time, Tarek and his family lived in an area of Ramallah that is close to this settlement/military base, and one night Tarek found a young, white mutt outside the house. He gave her food to eat and water to drink and left her there on the sidewalk.
The next day when Tarek's Mom came home, she yelped:
"There's a dog in the house!"
Somehow the settler dog had managed to sneak inside the house, and seemed to have no intention of ever leaving again. Tarek's family eventually decided to let her stay.
This was eight years ago. The little white mutt was Jessy. She is nine years old now, and sleeps on the couch in the living room of my boyfriend's family's new house. She eats expensive food for allergy-prone dogs, drinks filtered water, gets vaccination shots from the vet down the street, and lives an all-around comfortable life in a nice neighborhood of Ramallah.
She understands all basic food, walk or other dog related words in Arabic, too, and probably can't even remember a life before her Palestinian family.
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