Annika and Catie as Shlomo

Whenever I walk down the streets of Jerusalem, I am reminded of the conflict. I see the soldiers with their guns draped around their shoulders at every corner, protecting me from the Palestinians. My father was born in the United States, but he moved our family to the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem so we could come home to our people. I can speak both English and Hebrew. As a student at Yeshiva, I will not be required to serve in the army. I study from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM six days a week to prepare to become a rabbi, just like my father. In school, I was taught that the Palestinians have 22 countries for themselves, places like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. The Jews have only one: Israel. I am a religious Jew, and I just had my Bar Mitzvah at the Kotel, or Western Wall. I understand why the Arabs are upset. They were born here, but sometimes I wish that a wealthy country like the United States could just pay for the Palestinians to move to another Arab country. Then, we would have Israel as our true homeland.