Mistrust Blocks Peacemaking – Young German parliamentarians favor new relationship | Jewish Voice From Germany

Mistrust Blocks Peacemaking – Young German parliamentarians favor new relationship | Jewish Voice From Germany

Four years ago, I was walking through the old town of Jerusalem during sunrise. Nobody was up and the narrow alleys were still fast asleep. The nascent rising burning sun of the Middle East was sparkling on the polished surface of the streets. From that time on this memory has been alive inside me: Jerusalem, sheeted with a thousand years of history, and the awareness that this is the delightful freckle where the bloody struggle has been taking place since the beginning of time.
Having been in Israel twice before, now I was on my first visit as an official member of the German parliament. Invited by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), our group of eight members of the German Bundestag from different political parties came here to speak with scientists, politicians, journalists, and analysts and to get acquainted with the country. Most of the travelers hadn’t been to Israel before. And this trip was going to be more than a political exchange on the diplomatic level.