Hunter Stuart is a journalist who came to Israel pro-palestinian, but rethought his positions on the conflict while here for a year.
He writes about it here. It is mandatory reading.
There’s an old saying that goes, “If you want to change someone’s mind, first make them your friend.” The friends I made in Israel forever changed my mind about the country and about the Jewish need for a homeland. But I also spent a lot of time traveling in the Palestinian Territories getting to know Palestinians. I spent close to six weeks visiting Nablus and Ramallah and Hebron and even the Gaza Strip. I spent another six weeks in Amman, which is 60% Palestinian. I met some incredible people in these places; I saw generosity and hospitality unlike anywhere I’ve else I’ve ever traveled to. I’ll be friends with some of them for the rest of my life. But almost without fail, their views of the conflict and of Israel and of Jewish people in general were extremely disappointing to me.
Read the entire thing.
