Sunday Dec 16, 2007
Posted by Teddy Fassberg
"Pardon my ignorance", the inevitable question always begins, when people first hear where I live, "but is Sakhnin safe?" The tone they employ would seem to imply that Sakhnin is in Iraq or Afghanistan. Which, incidentally, is understandable, given that there are signs here pointing the way to Kabul, a nearby village. Seriously though, the apologetic question is easily understood - at least by me, since it was my first inquiry, too. The answer was affirmative - Sakhnin is safe, I was told, its people are warm and friendly and not at all dangerous. Just be prepared, I was forewarned, to deal with the prevailing suspicion that accompanies every Jew who seeks out Arabs, namely that he is either from the Mossad or the IRS.
I am neither, of course: after three years in the army, I haven't the slightest interest in any topic remotely related to national security; and, likewise, the IRS hasn't the slightest interest in me or in the meager income on which I subsist, which is not nearly substantial enough to be taxed. Yet while I pose no threat to them, living here is not an experience entirely bereft of hazards.