And that's how it all began

It's quite rare for blood pressure to increase like this in a body as young as mine, but the coverage of yet another Palestinian-Israeli clash on the news was really getting the best of me.

For lack of a stronger word, I was enraged. It was as if the reporter had woken up that day and managed to forget 3000 years of history and heritage. For him the story began today.

Israeli soldiers shot dead 9 activists on a boat determined to penetrate the Gaza Blockade. For the news networks, this was where the story began and where it ended.

It did not begin 2 days ago with the boat embarking from turkey in spite of the blockade, nor a year ago when Hamas rose to power and Israel started its siege of Gaza. Nor did it begin 8 years ago when rockets started flying over the Gaza border or 33 years ago when Israel Conquered the Palestinian territories.

Of course it didn't begin with Great Britain dividing the land and the subsequent Arab-Israel war in 1948 and there is definitely no connection to the Muslim conquests or to Jewish Presence in the holy land for the past 3000 years. No, the story began 2 minutes ago when a soldier on a boat shot an activist. BREAKING NEWS!

There is however a silver lining. Fueled by my vexation I decided to do something …something that would promote a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and political aspects of the conflict. It is not about who is right or wrong it is about understanding and relating to our fellow men.

How else are we to live peacefully with one another if we do not acknowledge or at least become acquainted with the context that brought two people to clash in such a violent manner?

It is with this mission in mind, to promote understanding through travel that we founded Identity Travel.

And that's how it all began...