All about Abed

My hubby works with Abed. I say "works with" and not "works for" to show partnership here. Jews employ Arabs, for the most part, and very few form any partnerships with them. I'm talking workforce - not politics or the academic world, etc. Blue collar stuff. Hubby is a Bruce Springsteen, salt-of-the-earth type and found a brother in Abed who lives north of Jerusalem. He has an Israeli ID, but that doesn't stop him from being hassled as a potential terrorist. We took Abed to our bank in a suburb just outside Jerusalem. He passed the checkpoint to our community fine - because he was with us. (Hubby and I always laugh about the fact that even if Abed grew a beard and put on a skullcap, no one could ever mistake him for a Jew. He's a total Ishmaelite!) We then approached the mall and the guard looked at Abed and told him to get out of the car and frisked him. Hubby and I turned red as beets. We told the guard - "he works with hubby" - The guard asked - how long has he been working for you?" He inspected everything in our car. "Whose is this" pointing to hubby's briefcase. (The next day the guard asks us - where's Ahmed - I guess we have a "reputation" now). OK, now we had to pass through the mall entrance to the mall. The female guard there again asked for Abed's ID - which was an Israeli ID card (Arabs from the West Bank have different colored IDs). Then we told her "he's with us" and she smiled (with a surprised look) and he was let through. Abed goes through the same hassle each day because he lives beyond the checkpoint one has to pass in order to get into Jerusalem. Hubby has to go and retrieve him each day, otherwise, even with an Israeli ID - they may tell him he can't get into Jerusalem. Or he's questioned and frisked, etc. Abed understands and accepts this as part of the routine of his life. I just wish that there could be a magic wand, or a mind reading radar at these checkpoints - that can differentiate between who is "just plain folk" and who is a terrorist trying to get into the City to create havoc - and whisk through the innocent majority to where they need to go in Jerusalem and other parts of the country. There's no way of the guards and army knowing if one is "OK". So all are deemed suspect. And I'm thinking of this on the eve of Jerusalem Day, where celebrations are going on for the reunification of Jerusalem. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy that East and West Jerusalem are under one roof. But is the city really unified?