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Adam Newman made his way into the room where the Interfaith talk was being held and scanned the rows of seats. Walking up towards the front he spotted Hannah Gregson.
‘Hi, Hannah, mind if I join you?’
‘Adam, hi, sit down,’ replied Hannah moving her bag from the adjacent seat.
‘So, who is it you know here in the Interfaith group?’ asked Adam.
Hannah nodded towards Rachel Goodman who was on the stage chatting to the speakers. ‘Rachel over there, I go running with her. I’m not actually a member of the Interfaith group but she was telling me about the talk and it sounded really interesting, so I thought I’d come along.’
‘Yes, I googled the two speakers and it’s amazing what they’ve done.’
‘Well, it’s a nice surprise to see you. When we spoke about it yesterday you didn’t say you were going to come along.’
‘No, well I wasn’t sure but I got my reaction sorted out and so I thought I’d come along instead of heading home. It’s good to hear an eminent scientist first hand. His research is really well known.’
‘Yes, it’s fascinating work,’ added Hannah.
‘I’ve not mentioned it before but I’m half Jewish, on my father’s side of the family, so as we have a few relatives in Israel it gave me another reason to come along. Besides, I’ve nothing much to do this evening. It’ll stop me pining at home on my own without Zoe as well,’ he joked.
‘Yes, I guess it must be hard just seeing her at weekends.’
‘It’s not too bad, London isn’t far away, it could be worse. She’s coming down here next weekend.’
Their discussion was halted as Rachel took the microphone and called for quiet.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming this evening. It’s really good to see such a high turnout. I can see a lot of familiar faces but also some new ones. I’m sure you will find this a very interesting forty minutes or so.’
Adam looked over his shoulder and saw that there were just a few seats empty towards the centres of rows. A few students were wearing kippahs and several of the young women were wearing hijabs. There were also some staff members he recognised. Rebecca Levinson was sitting in the front row along with some other people he couldn’t put names to.
‘Oh, one thing I forgot to mention,’ said Rachel, ‘we are filming the talk and it will be available on the University website in a couple of days. So without further ado, I would like to introduce the two speakers.’
Rachel gave a brief resumé for Noam Peretz and Omar Khatib. As she listed their academic achievements and more recently their charitable work, Adam began to think that at some point in the future he might like to take a break from chemistry and take part in some charitable work himself. Not in the Middle East but closer to home working with the underprivileged. He was brought back to the moment by Rachel announcing who was the first to speak.
‘Well, both of our speakers were so polite that they thought the other should be the first to speak.’
‘Afraid, more like!’ shouted someone in the audience with good humour.
‘Very true!’ replied Noam.
‘So, we tossed a coin!’ said Rachel, ‘ and wait for it...’ she teased. ‘Omar won, so he’s going to go...wait for it.. go second!’
The audience laughed.
‘Noam, over to you.’ Rachel left the stage and sat down next to Rebecca Levinson on the front row. Rebecca whispered something in her ear and Rachel smiled.
‘Come on, come on!’ said Noam trying to wake up his laptop to bring up his first slide. Nothing happened. He jiggled the wire in one of the USB ports and tried again. ‘Ha! Finally,’ he said.
During those few quiet moments some distant chanting could be heard outside the room. Fortunately, it wasn’t so loud as to be embarrassing although some words such as Israel and occupation were discernable. Rachel looked along her row of seats and communicated silently with a young man on the end of the row who discretely tiptoed towards the back of the room, presumably to see whether he could get security to move the protestors.
‘I first met Omar back in 2011 and he’s not been able to escape from me yet!’ joked Noam.
‘I keep trying,’ said Omar, from the sidelines.
‘You will all have heard of President Shimon Peres. He set up an initiative whereby Israeli scientists and businessmen would advise biotech and technology companies in the West Bank so they could realise their maximum potential. This is how we met.’
‘My first slide shows the company where I started my medical research after graduating from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I studied there for my Ph.D, and also did a two-year post-doctoral placement researching into neurotransmitters.’
‘I then left there and went to work for a private biotech company specialising in neuroscience. After a couple of years, I moved into a more of a managerial position. When I heard about the New Generation Technology Incubator Project I was very interested and applied to be part of the group which toured the companies being set up in the West Bank.’
Noam then showed a few slides with lists of companies he had visited and the research being undertaken. Adam was finding the talk fascinating. He hadn’t heard of any of these companies. The work being done was really interesting and it was such a powerful example of collaboration rather than competition.
‘I won’t steal Omar’s thunder as I’d like him to tell you the scientific details of his research but together we enabled the concept to be developed and attract a considerable investment from businesses in Israel and abroad. Rachel was telling me over lunch about your own spin-off company here, PersCure, I think it is called. The similarities between that and Omar’s company are striking, so I think I will hand over to Omar and then perhaps add a few other details at the end.’
‘You might if I let you!’ joked Omar, stepping up to the laptop and finding his own presentation.’
As he was closing Noam’s slides and bringing up his first slide there was a loud bang on the door of the meeting room as if something had been thrown against it. Security guards could clearly be heard trying to restore order.
‘It sounds as if people are desperate to get into the talk,’ joked Omar.
The audience laughed but Adam was beginning to worry that things were getting out of hand, it didn’t sound good.
**
Fay left Christian’s office. Christian stared at the visitor and felt light-headed. Laura stood before him beaming from ear to ear. She took a seat in front of his desk.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ spat Christian. His day was getting worse by the minute. His blood pressure was rising and his heart pounding in his chest.
‘Well, that’s not a very nice welcome. I wanted to see you. I should have thought that was obvious.’
‘We are supposed to be being discreet! Breezing into my place of work isn’t discreet, it’s brazen!’ He was pacing around now. ‘How did you know where I worked, I don’t remember actually telling you?’
‘You left your security pass hanging over your jacket in the hotel the other night. A bit careless, don’t you think?’
Christian sighed. Had he made the biggest mistake of his life getting involved with Laura?
‘Aren’t you going to offer me a drink?’
‘Look I think you should leave. There was nothing in the diary and we don’t usually make mistakes like that. People will be suspicious.
‘I’m here to discuss some trials we want to run here. What is suspicious about that?’
‘Look, let’s meet up one evening this week. I’ll sort something out. I’ll let you know.’
‘That’s what you said about Sunday but nothing happened, did it? You spent the time with your lovely wife. Is this her?’ asked Laura, picking up the family photo on the desk. ‘Oh, what a touching picture of marital bliss.’
Christian snatched the photo frame off her and put it in his drawer. It was the second time today it had been examined and he regretted ever putting it on his desk.
‘Please go,’ he said. ‘I promise I’ll be in touch.’
‘Well, that is a bit more like it I suppose. But I get the sense you aren’t fully committed to our relationship?’
‘Relationship? That’s a bit strong, isn’t it? We’ve only just met. Sex doesn’t make it a relationship.’
‘Why do I get the impression you are using me?’
‘I’m not. Look, it’s difficult. I can’t just ditch my family just like that. Things are complicated at work as well, the company isn’t doing so well. I could lose my job.’
‘Really. Well, you could lose a good deal more than your job if you mess me about. Your family, your reputation, shall I continue?’
Christian merely glared at her.
‘I sense you are getting the message. Shall we say Wednesday? I’ll see you then. Don’t forget.’
Laura left his office and for the second time that day Christian slumped down in his chair and put his head in his hands.
**
Omar had moved on from the information about his neuroscience company to talk about the charitable initiatives they had both taken part in.
‘NeuroBridges began in 2014 in Göttingen, Germany and is an annual workshop held in Europe which brings together European, Israeli and Arab neuroscientists. It serves as a bridge between theoretical and experimental neuroscientists and fosters collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Noam and I took part in the first one and will both be attending this year’s workshop.’
He produced a series of slides highlighting the key achievements from the workshop.
‘In our spare time, not that there is much!’ he joked. ‘We try to spend at least a couple of weeks each year getting involved with the Roots programme. This project organizes meetings between Israelis and Palestinians who live near each other in the West Bank in order to create dialogue. This slide shows some of the activities which take place.’
‘The project's outreach program includes monthly meetings between Israeli and Palestinian families, a women's group, work with school children. Here is my wife working with some children.’
‘And here are some photos of the centrally-located site in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank, used as a convenient meeting area.’ He looked at his watch. ‘How are we for time?’
‘About five minutes more, then it gives time for some questions,’ said Rachel.
Noam took over the laptop. ‘Well it’s all been quite serious so far and there’s been a lot of detail so for the last few minutes I thought I’d show you some photos of Israel and tempt you to visit us! We will leave our details with Rachel.’
‘As you can see the weather is awful in Israel.’ He showed the beach at Tel Aviv and other shots showing sunshine, blue skies and palm trees. The audience laughed.
‘We also have lots of culture,’ and he flicked through a few slides of the main tourist sites.
‘The food is terrible too!’ he joked, showing plates of hummus and other delicacies and a picture of a market with huge stalls showing fruit and vegetables piled high.
Adam was beginning to feel hungry seeing all the pictures of restaurants and street food. He also felt like a holiday. The talk was drawing to a close and it was time for questions.
‘Which is the best hummus restaurant?’ asked someone from the back which caused much laughter.
Both speakers shouted their favourite places at the same time and continued to heckle each other. Rachel was laughing as she called for order.
‘Come and see me later!’ shouted Noam having the final word, ‘I’ll tell you!’
‘How confident are you that these initiatives will win out in the end in what seems an increasingly polarised society?’ asked someone.
‘There are no guarantees,’ said Noam. ‘All we can hope for is that moderate politicians will have a voice and support us in our efforts. We need more people like Shimon Peres. He was an inspiration.’
‘The media doesn’t report all the many initiatives taking place. I would encourage you to look on the web and if possible support them. We need to do everything to increase understanding of the different cultures and show that by working together we can really achieve something,’ added Omar. ‘We have to continue to believe that steps however small are worth it.’
These last comments received warm applause. The meeting was drawing to a close and Adam was really pleased he had attended. He was going to go back and read up about some of the items mentioned this evening.
‘Did you enjoy it?’ asked Hannah.
‘It was brilliant. The time went by so quickly. I’m really glad I came along.’
‘The guys were really entertaining. I could imagine working with them and the joking in the laboratory,’ added Hannah.
People started to get up and filter out. As the doors opened the sound of the chanting was louder. Anti-Israel chants were unmistakable. Suddenly there was the general noise of scuffling and cries of “get off”, “fuck off,” and other aggressive shouts. Clattering could be heard as well which sounded like wood against wood. It wasn’t clear from inside the room exactly what was happening but it wasn’t pleasant.
The two speakers were being ushered out through the door at the back of the stage. Rachel took the microphone to make an announcement.
‘Please take a seat for a couple of minutes. We are going to wait in here until security allows us to leave.’
‘Great,’ said Adam, sitting back down.
‘I hope no-one’s being hurt out there,’ said Hannah.
Both took out their phones to check their messages whilst they waited. After five minutes the doors opened and people started to file out again. Security had cleared the corridor and a path was now available for the attendees to file out to towards the main lobby area where a group of students were now chanting “End Israeli Occupation!”
As Adam reached the front lobby, a couple of young men wandered forward, they went up behind one of the female attendees and he heard them whispering “Zio, Zio,” at her. She ignored them and carried on but another young man stepped in front of her blocking her path. She tried to sidestep but found herself surrounded. They all began to whisper “Zio, Zio,” at her.
‘Leave me alone! Piss off!’ she shouted trying to push past them.
Adam was directly behind the girl with Hannah alongside him. He had heard enough. He got hold of the girl’s arm so he could go in front. He started to use his size and weight to push his way through. The opponents stood their ground and Adam tried to shoulder his way through. A scuffle broke out. Hostile exchanges began between Adam and the men but before any punches were thrown, security guards ran forward. They faced the angry group and gradually moved them back. The remaining audience walked quickly across the lobby and left the building.
‘God, that was awful,’ said Hannah. ‘I thought we were going to be assaulted.’
‘I would happily have landed one on those guys,’ said Adam. ‘Luckily that I didn’t though as I’m sure I would have been charged.’
‘Well, it’s good they planned ahead and got extra security,’ said Hannah.
Adam was breathing the fresh air and hoping his pulse would slow down. He still felt fired up.
‘I think I fancy a beer, what about you?’ he asked.
‘Why not? I’m not in a rush.’
‘Come on, I’m buying,’ said Adam. ‘You decide where we should go.’
The two chemists walked towards the town chatting as they went. Adam realised he could easily have been on the way to the police station to face charges. Fortunately the tension had been diffused and order restored preventing ugly scenes like those witnessed the previous weekend.
