Multicultural and a Multilingual Background. At Home,

¶ … multicultural and a multilingual background. At home, I speak Arabic to my Palestinian-Muslim father, Polish to my Polish-Christian mother, and English to both parents when together. I speak French with my peers at the Lycee Francais de Jerusalem and Hebrew in the streets of Jerusalem. My multilingual fluency has allowed me to maximize the benefits of exposure to various different cultures and communities and it has reinforced the tremendous value of communication in connection with understanding the very different points-of-view held by different members of my community.

As a Palestinian child growing up in Jerusalem, I have always been keenly aware of the intense political factionalism and conflict in my part of the world and with the manner in which individuals can easily become indoctrinated with negative beliefs about and expectations of others. Luckily, my family promoted the opposite approach, teaching me to recognize the common humanity and potential for good in everyone. I believe, without exaggeration, that few formative social environments are more conducive to learning appreciation for the value of ethnic diversity.

The realities of my home community have also sensitized me and made me acutely aware of the fundamental importance of environmental issues in general, and of the need to develop sustainable energy sources immediately rather than as part of a much longer-term approach. That is because in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the entire community must constantly endure the difficulties, inconveniences, and consequences of very limited access to electricity that is barely sufficient to support ordinary life. Because the usable energy that we do have relies so much on electricity that is imported at great cost from outside the Territories, it is so expensive that it is not at all atypical for ordinary families to spend as much as one-tenth of their total annual earnings on electric power just to sustain the bare minimum necessary for ordinary life functions. Even then, it is not at all unusual for the community to lose power periodically.