Escalating violence in Middle East being felt locally
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The sting of growing violence in the Middle East is being felt in the Triangle.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions are rising following the kidnapping and murders of three Israeli teenagers last month and the gruesome killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian just last week.
Sapir Gabay, 22, and Shir Avitan, 21, are visiting America for the first time. The scene around them is peaceful compared to their war-torn home of Israel.
"You feel like something all the time bother you," said Shir. "You open the news all the time, talking about it all the time."
Soon after they arrived at Raleigh's Jewish Community Center to work the summer camp, they got word that three Israeli teens back home had been kidnapped.
"That was the moment that me and Sapir was the most sad," said Shir. "And was like so hard moment because we know that since this moment it's not going to be better."
"I don't have to go through nearly as much as the people around me," said Maggie Walker, a UNC-Chapel Hill rising senior currently in Ramallah teaching SAT Prep courses to high school students.
She got there just as the bodies of those three Israeli teens were found and another teenager, this time a Palestinian, was brutally murdered.
"A number of students are - have close friends who have been injured, have close friends that have been killed and for me it's shocking and for students here, it's commonplace," said Walker.
While her students skip school for fear of being attacked, Walker says the only time she felt unsafe was at a military checkpoint.
"It's manned by IDF soldiers with very large guns, she described. "And I'm not used to being around that."
For Shir and Sapir, this is their life.
"I have friends in the army," said Gabay. "And it's really scary for them and for me and for everybody."
Through their eyes, peace isn't just a word; it's their hope for an entire generation.
"I know that my parents want that for me and I want that for my kids," said Shir. "I don't know what's going to be. But I hope that like we like Jewish and Palestinians will be like safe in Israel."
Barry Schwartz, Exec. Dir. Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary told ABC11 that having these young people trade places for even a short time, is helping them understand the reality.
"These are just tragic, tragic crimes," he said.
He said he hopes the younger generation will take in these experiences and help bring change to a part of the world that desperately needs it.
