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What’s the Difference Between a Palestinian Kid and an Israeli One?
If you’re looking for some trick answer here, I’m sorry to disappoint.
A simple but brilliant advertising campaign about tolerance in the Middle East sporting a nearly identical set of kids actually depicts two kids who share no blood. They’ve never even met.
But the Israeli girl looks an awful lot like the Palestinian boy beside her in the project put together by Belgian artist Olivier Suter as part of his series of “Enemies” advertisements. Meant to help people celebrate their differences, the project began in Belgium, where Suter asked people to compare a French and Flemish speaker. But it’s a bit more poignant in the Middle East for obvious reasons (hello Gaza, West Bank, bombs . . . ).
Using kids is a genius move for equally obvious reasons. It’s hard to look at the pictures and not think about allowing their fresh faces to make up for centuries of mistakes, about letting them just be kids. Or maybe that’s just me. If you’re dead set on destroying the “other kind,” these pictures probably won’t have much affect. But for those good souls have simply gotten caught up in the fervor of the crowd, the face of a child (or two children who look like one) may be just what it takes.
The kids, by the way, are named Hadas Maor (that’s the Israeli girl) and Adam Shurati, who was a little upset to learn people thought he looked like a girl (come on, he’s a little boy, he’s allowed to bristle at this one). Adam’s mom had his hair cut to help Suter with matching the kids. She thought the project was brilliant, as did Hadas’ dad, a supporter of a “two-state” system that would allow for the peaceful co-existence of Palestinians and Israelis in the region.
Image: Haaretz
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