When I was first told about going to Korea to talk about the Palestinian history and the current situation, I was very skeptic about the outcome and the general attitude of the South Korean population towards the Palestinian problem. I am saying this, with the little history and knowledge that I have about the Korean people. Knowing about the American and western influence that is highly present at the South Korean society and on the people’s attitudes, I have thought that it might be very hard to deliver a message of peace to them

Before arriving to Korea, I have had to undertake a long journey, and long flying hours to get there. I had to go from Palestine to Jordan on mainland, and then fly from Jordan to Dubai, then to my final destination, Seoul. All in all, the trip has taken more almost up to 24 hours. When I got there, I was met by Mr Yun Hee, and Ms. Micky, and was driven to the YMCA, and there was introduced to very nice people. After that, I have had to go through my first Korean experience, of attending a local restaurant where I was treated in a very welcoming and a very respectful way. During dinner, I received my first cultural shock, which turned out to be the fact that I was eating octopus, since that is not a very familiar thing to do in my culture, but I powered through it . After dinner I was driven to a very nice hostel which looked a lot like the Korean culture back in the day, the old style and the sliding doors, a very nice place indeed.

The next day, my journey had begun in introducing the Palestinian problem to the Korean people at the southern part of South Korea. My first lecture was given to theology students at their university, and was met with great appreciation. The students were more than eager to learn about it, and they have asked me very honest questions. There was a big crowd of students who were interested in learning about the Palestinian problem. Perhaps to them, the fact that they were studying theology, made them more eager to learn about the religious aspect of the Palestinian society, and within that, to learn about the political problem that we face today and how it could be connected to theology. I was very happy to see such a big crowd, with a big interest, and indeed the faculty members were more than welcoming.

After the lecture I’ve had with the university students, my talks have been concentrated to local NGOs, local YMCA staff, and General Secretaries. Having spoken to many YMCA members, I was very optimistic from their enthusiasm about helping the Palestinian people. Their sympathy was clearly shown, and their understanding to the problem was also shown by the questions they were asking.

An experience that I will never forget was my short visit to Kwangju. In Kwangju I was told about the Revolution that took place against dictatorship, and how the people responded to it. I felt very close to these people. It felt a lot like home, the fighting for peace and against the wrong. There and then, I realized that Korean people have felt what Palestinians are feeling today, and I thought to myself that Koreans and Palestinians have a lot of common history, which would make the Palestinian problem an easily understandable problem for the South Koreans to digest.   

My image about South Koreans has quickly changed into an image of optimism and gratitude.  My stay in South Korea has changed a lot of my perception on how the world views the Palestinian occupation problem. I was met with great respect, and great solidarity attitudes. The Korean people, not only were the generous to me in their day to day life, but also generous in giving supporting words, supporting attitude, and frustration towards the escalation, the Israeli treatment and policies towards the Palestinians in Palestine and around the world. I am very pleased to have been given the chance by the YMCA life and Peace center to be present and to witness this, and help in sharing some of the knowledge I have about the situation, and on top of that receive and understand more about the Korean history and the problems they also had to go through. Having said this, I think Koreans and Palestinians have had quite a lot in common. Having lived the Japanese occupation, Koreans can relate to the austerity of a foreign power occupying and controlling the day to day life matters of the Palestinian people.

I truly hope Koreans and Palestinian can continue to further work together, and share their history, present and plans for the future in order to achieve an independent Palestinian state.