...
Arabs often die alongside Jews when terror strikes. It is one of the facts that is paradoxically too insignificant and too laden with meaning to merit mention in most of the articles published here, as if referring to the coexistence it implies has become too exasperating for words.
The announcement of Karam's death in El Kuds, the east Jerusalem daily, was a further example of obfuscation. The Palestinian press does not speak of acts of Palestinian terrorism, even when the terrorism hits Palestinians. The obituary said Karam, 27, had been "called by God" as a result of "an accident at his place of work," as though a tray had fallen on his head. The euphemism was especially rankling because of a new bit of slang that has taken hold here during the intifada. The term "work accident" has come to mean the premature detonation of a suicide belt as the terrorist prepares an attack, a workaday snafu for suicide brigades -- whereas Karam, who worked closely with Jews, died as a symbol of something we have lost the ability even to hope for: Jews and Arabs living together in peace.
...
For all of us here, reality at times is too staggering for words, and Father Dades, who is a young man with an old man's voice, eventually gave up -- the service didn't last more than 15 minutes -- sprinkled some holy water on Karam's coffin, dispersed incense from a large silver burner, and finally, with a sigh, said, "Maskin, Allah yirachamo, amen" -- Poor thing, may God have mercy on him, amen.
Karam's mother, Sohaila, knew just what to say. She threw herself upon the coffin crying, "Son, take me with you."
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Seeing my notepad, the women gathered around, speaking in a jumble of Hebrew and Arabic. When they talked about "Arabs" they meant the Muslim majority they feel they can no longer abide. The Palestinian Christians aspire to remain a minority in the Jewish state. One woman, a longtime employee of the Israel Museum, made her identification with Israel evident as she showed me a picture of her daughter, which she pulled out of her telltale, egg-shell blue Israeli national ID card.
One woman said: "Sharon, he's old by now. Doesn't he have a brain? He knows what he has to do -- burn the Arabs. Burn them already."
Another said, "The Christians want peace. You tell that to the Arabs."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8027-2003Sep26.html
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