"You'd like to go back?" (continued from 7/22 AM)

   "You'd like to go back?" I asked him.
   "Of course I want to go back.  Everyone in Palestine would like to go to the States.  It's free, there's order, there are jobs...at least a better possibility for jobs than here."
   "You got married when you came back here?  
   "Yes.  You have to get married here.  Here we are not free like you are before marriage.  Here you cannot  go out for a drink with a girlfriend.  Here you have to get married to have a life.  If you're not married by the time you're thirty, people think there is something wrong and maybe you will never get married." 
   It is the other side of the coin: the girl cannot have a date, a real date, before she is engaged.  The man cannot have a date so he must marry.  This is not true everywhere in Palestine but outside cities like Haifa, Ramallah and Tel Aviv, it probably is true for Muslim Palestinians.
   Back in the sitting room with all the smoke, the conversations in Arabic continued, and Nasser and I talked some more about Palestine and his work.  After a few men left, I asked Cotton's question: "What do you want me to tell people in the States?"  Nasser translated; here is a sample of answers:
   "Say the truth."
   "The American government is working with the Israeli policy and supporting Israel while refusing to support the UN decision in 1948."
   "The international community, led by the US, is not fair to Palestine in a way it has never been before."
   "The USA is not fair; Obama, Clinton and the others have not been fair."
   "Enough US veto against Palestine!"
   "As long as we are breathing, there is hope."  This was Abed, the father of the new baby.
   "The US and Europe don't take Palestine seriously.
   "The US and the international community ask more and more; soon they will ask for our clothes."
   "Be our ambassador, the representative of our community to your community."  That was Nasser's.
   "You ate with us.  You were our guest.  We trust you and you can trust us."
   It was time to leave.  Everyone got up, each came over to me, shook hands and said good-bye.  Some thanked me.  They walked out and one man called me back.  "My family and I were sent out of Palestine for twenty years!  For twenty years we could not come back to our home.  Then I came back.  People told me to stay in Jordan.  No.  I am Palestinian.  I married in Jordan and had a family and we all came back.  We have been back a long time.  This is my country."  He took my hand and held my arm with his other hand: "Thank you for coming.  You are my friend."  I thanked him and and we left.