At the other was the Palestinian checkpoint with its young, armed soldiers and the photo of a smiling Arafat. I was not used to being near so many weapons, and it made me nervous. I wondered about the effect this had on the delicate psyches of the young soldiers. We see violence, we know people on both sides get killed, and we don't know how to handle the emotions that come up about this. Peer pressure dictates that we look fearless, so we stuff our emotions deep inside and put on a mask.
Some people get so used to the mask that they forget to take it off later.
We become emotionally numb. As we crossed the border, I thought of the 40,000 Palestinians who crossed it each day to work in Israel. Every evening they return home, again crossing the border. Due to Israel's fear of terrorists, they are prohibited from staying overnight in Israel. The bus appeared and we met our Palestinian hosts from the Palestinian Ibrahimi Center for Languages.