Personal Narrative: My First Intifada

One might say I’ve experienced my share of fright, heartache, and disappointment in life. Born in 1940 in Berlin, Germany to a very strict Jewish family, it seemed as though my life was destined to be like any other European Jew at that time: deathly persecution by the ever-present population of anti-semites in Europe. Shortly after the Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, my parents, older sister, and I fled to live with my great aunt in Barcelona, Spain. Looking back on that event, I consider myself greatly blessed to have fled from the evil and persecution of the Nazis, for many Jews didn’t have that privilege. Even at a young age while living in Spain, I often felt feelings of guilt, for many of my fellow Jews were being killed by the thousands each day. Nevertheless, I was grateful for my aunt’s hospitality because her …show more content…
Just when I thought Israel and Palestine could exist peacefully, many assassinations of public leaders and riots occurred. Most notably, the First Intifada occurred in the 1987. This event is very close to my heart, as it involved a nephew who I considered a son. Now this “Intifada” was characterized by the Palestinians rioting against Israeli soldiers and doing heinous actions, like throwing large stones at the soldiers. As I mentioned previously, the Intifada is particular sensitive for me because my nephew, Aaron, was involved in this attack. Walking down the streets of a Palestinian camp one afternoon, he was attacked by a group of Palestinian boys, and one of the boys threw a large rock at his head. He immediately fell to the ground and was luckily discovered by another Israeli soldier a few hours later. It pains me to say that the injury caused him to die in an Israeli hospital a few days later. One would think that an event like this would cause one to issue a death warrant for all Palestinians. However, I desired to do no harm to these people. If anything, I desired a two-state solution more than