Kathy Times

While Palestinians seek United Nations’ recognition as a state, I am in Israel getting a first-hand look at this complex State of Contradictions. The American Jewish Committee invited me and other African-American leaders, including elected officials from Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., to the Holy Land. We are meeting with scholars, educators, health and medical experts, and military and political leaders to get a better understanding of the conflict that literally divides Jews, Christians, and Muslims in a state that is controlled by the majority – Israeli Jews. About 7.5 million people live in Israel. Three-fourths are Jews and 21 percent are Arab-Muslim according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. We visited Shaul Goldstein, the mayor of a West Bank Jewish settlement that just celebrated 44 years of occupation in the rural outskirts of Jerusalem. The West Bank is home to mostly Arab families (Palestinians) and Jews. Palestinians control two of three areas identified as A, B, and C. During our meeting Friday, Goldstein paused to check his pager for updates on protests related to the historic United Nations meeting. He received a report of protestors throwing rocks at cars with Israeli license plates. It happened just hours…