The Revelation

I was 8 years old. One day, I came home from school, and after having a discussion with a friend whose father was a Palestinian writer, I told my mother that Jews are horrible bad people. I could never forget the look on her face…
She then said she has something important to tell me: my grandmother, to whom I was very close, is Jewish. Of course it came as a shock.
This is when I first heard about the Jewish people, the Torah, the Holocaust, and Israel.
I immediately felt I belonged to this People.
For years I had to hide it.
Of course I understood the danger of revealing it: I used to go to an American school, and ironically, in Lebanon, Muslims go to American schools. Christians are more into the French system… Needless to say what I heard about Jews and Israelis on a daily basis, and from both students –my friends- and teachers. I was struck by all the aggressiveness and the hatred.
My grandmother is the incarnation of love and kindness in a person. So for me, she incarnated also my People.
I had to lie low. For many years…