Omar Abdel-Baqui
Mahmoud Kilani first tasted life in Israel when he sneaked through a hole in the wall confining Palestinians in the West Bank so he could meet a young woman he encountered online.
Soon, the 22-year-old Palestinian skateboarding enthusiast had an Israeli work permit and spent months in the Mediterranean city of Haifa, working in bars and restaurants, learning Hebrew and making Israeli friends.
Before then, the only Israelis he ever encountered were soldiers or settlers in tense interactions around his home city of Nablus. “The concept of having Israeli friends—there was none of that in Nablus,” he said.
Mahmoud Kilani, 22, has been mostly confined to his hometown of Nablus, as Israeli military activity and movement restrictions on Palestinians prevent him from traveling freely around the West Bank—including to skate parks.
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