Hello Pitzi and Judith,
First of all thank you very much for the fascinating tour in the territories, I think you are doing a sacred job.
Unfortunately I was slightly disappointed that even I, who are not young, was among the youngsters who took the tour. My impression is that we are creating (because of the separation wall) a young generation of Palestinians that knows Jews only through their encounters with IDF and the settlers, and on the other hand a whole generation of young people on our side of the wall knows no Palestinians at all.
Besides knowing the other side, diminishing the fear and creating the possibility of a connection, it is extremely important that the public becomes aware of what's going on behind the wall. I suppose, Pitzi, that as a manager you probably organized tours to Poland. In our attitude to the Holocaust (although vastly different) we are angry with the German public who claimed they knew nothing about the Holocaust. We ask ourselves how is it possible that so many people did not know what was going on, about the extermination machine? The answer is simple, they simply did not want to know. On the other hand (again: vastly different) the wall enables many Israelis to say they know nothing about what's going on in the territories. I believe, as a descendant of a people who suffered persecution while the world stood by, we cannot "not know". Some might claim that the price the Palestinians are paying is justified, but at least they have to hear what they say before passing judgment.
Thank you again for exposing a little of what's happening in our neighboring planet.
Shabbat Shalom.
Ehud Pazy