Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People - Rafapal

6 THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
The Second Story—Two "Native" Friends
Mahmoud One (both protagonists in this story are named Mahmoud) was
born in Jaffa in 1945. In the 1950s there were still some Arab neighborhoods
whose inhabitants had not fled to Gaza during the fighting and were permitted
go on living in their native city. This Mahmoud grew up in the impoverished
alleys of the city, which was almost entirely settled by Jewish immigrants.
Unlike the population in the Sharon Plain and the Galilee, the Palestinians of
Jaffa had been left depleted and orphaned; too few of the city's original inhabitants
remained to carry forward an independent culture, and the immigrant
society refused to become involved or integrated with them.
One outlet from the small, narrow ghetto of Arab Jaffa was the Israeli
Communist party. Young Mahmoud joined its youth movement, in which he
met Israelis his own age. The movement also enabled him to learn Hebrew well
and to travel in and become familiar with "Eretz Israel," which was still quite
small. Moreover, the movement took him beyond the scanty education he had
received at the Arab school, and, like Shulek of Poland, he studied Engels and
Lenin and tried to read Communist writers from around the world. His Israeli
youth guides liked him, and he was always willing to help his comrades.
Mahmoud befriended an Israeli boy a year younger than he was. They shared
an outlook, and Mahmoud helped his friend cope with the intense, challenging
street life of Jaffa. His physical strength made the younger lad feel safe, while the
latter's sharp tongue sometimes served Mahmoud well. They grew very close. They
told each other their deepest secrets. The friend learned that Mahmoud dreamed
of being called Moshe and of being accepted as one of the boys. Some evenings
as they wandered about the streets, Mahmoud introduced himself as Moshe and
succeeded in convincing peddlers and shopkeepers of his Jewishness. But he could
not maintain the other identity for long, and always reverted to Mahmoud. Nor
did his pride allow him to turn his back on his family.
One advantage Mahmoud enjoyed as an Arab was exemption from military
service. His friend, however, received a conscription notice, which threatened to
separate them. One weekend in 1964, they sat on Jaffa's beautiful beach and speculated
about the future. Fantasizing freely, they resolved that as soon as Mahmoud's
friend completed his military service they would travel the world, and perhaps,
if they were lucky, would not have to come back to Israel. To cement this fateful
resolution, they carefully cut their palms and pressed them together and, like a pair
of silly little boys, swore to make the great journey together.
Mahmoud waited for the younger man to complete his national service. It
lasted more than two and a half years. But the friend came back changed—in
love, emotionally shackled, confused. Though he remembered their pact, he