Watermelon brings Jews, Arabs together in shadow of Old City walls

[Mosby]

Jews and Arabs share a plate of watermelon (photo credit: via Facebook)


Towering platters of watermelon and Israeli cheeses brought together Jews and Arabs in the Musrara neighborhood this week as part of the first annual “Between Green and Red” festival in Jerusalem.

The festival, which began on Monday and continues until Saturday, is a throwback to what the neighborhood, close to the Old City walls, used to look like in the days after the Six Day War in 1967 and for the two decades after that, participants said.

Matan Israeli, the festival’s artistic manager and the brains behind the entire production, said, “The idea of a watermelon stand is not new; we just revived it. This is a place where everyone in the neighborhood would gather. When the people who remember those summer nights talk about it, their eyes still sparkle.”

The summer of ‘67 marked a critical turning point in Jerusalem. Israel had just recaptured Jerusalem’s Old City and what had been considered “no man’s land,” the area that had once divided the city, became an open space of opportunity.


More at:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/watermelon-brings-jews-arabs-together-in-jerusalems-musrara/

[Fantastic Anarchist]

1. Kick for a great story.

Thanks for posting.

[Ken Burch]

2. Nice.

n/t.

[LeftishBrit]

3. k&r