After shoveling gravel and sand into the truck all morning, Amr, Yusef, a few others, and I rested in the shade of the wall. As we were all sitting around, I asked Yusef what his full name was. It turns out, he has four: his, his father’s, his grandfather’s and his family name. As I tried to memorize all these names I threw a pebble at his ankle for each one. Then I tried to memorize Amr’s names and threw four pebbles his way too. After Amr asked me what my full name was, and after I started to play this game with the others, I heard Yusef whisper to Amr that I was a “yehudi,” (Jew) Amr looked at me, shook his head and clicked his tongue in disagreement. When I turned closer to them and asked, “shu?” (what?) Yusef politely told me that he was taking not to me, but to Amr. I ignored this and kept talking to someone else. Later that afternoon, as Yusef was walking us home, he told me about his classmate who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in their village a year before. That evening, he gave me a picture of himself so that I shouldn’t forget him.

Yusef’s full name is Yusef Zahi Yusef Khatib, he is 18 years old and lives in Farkha, Salfit.