An Israeli who had lived in a Paris suburb tells of her memories, and of why she understands the youth rioting.
Living almost a decade ago in a suburb where 60% of the residents were Muslim, most of North-African descent, she reminisces of the warm and welcoming community she had found there. Living in a rather large Jewish community, she felt no hatred and always found help and respect by her Muslim neighbors. The hatred that had finally caused her to return to Israel, came from the French.
However, she says, the youth were always a problem. A 'ticking bomb' with no employment opportunities, and it was only a question of when that bomb would blow up.
Working in the center of Paris, she witnessed many demonstrations. Every demonstration ended with broken shop windows, stones thrown on cars, damage to parked motorcycles and turned-over garbage cans, along with plundering (of course). It went on for years, but the French government did nothing to take care of the problem. Now many in France wonder where the hatred and anger are coming from.
She does understand the anger. According to her, the writing was on the wall. The problem was that nobody wanted to even look at it, much less read it.
