I was always told to believe that the Arabs were the bad guys. They don't want peace, they want war and chaos. I was wrong.
During a coexistence seminar our group talked to and interviewed local Arab Israelis teenagers on if they wanted peace and what they wanted for peace. I witnessed something I thought was impossible, Arabs advocating for peace in Israel.
The seminar began with group conversations with the local Arab teens. We were able to talk to them in English, their third language in which they spoke (surprisingly) practically fluently (they also spoke fluently in Arabic and Hebrew).
A few minutes into conversation, one person in our group mentioned snapchat. One minute later everyone in the room was taking selfies and adding each other on Facebook and Instagram accounts. The fact that these kids even had social networking completely surprised me.
This new generation of Arab Israelis however still retain core values of their Muslim religion, one of which is anti-gay marriage. During the group conversations I talked to a girl about how the US is very accepting of gays, to which she responded, "I don't support gays."
After group conversations we interviewed some of the kids on what they want for in the future of Israel. To which one of the kids responded, "I hope [that] one day I can eat in Lebanon and go to sleep in Syria...I hope one day I will never see a gun."
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