Israel21c Since 2012, at the ice cream parlor in Tarshiha, the common language is the sound of a lick. With a mixed clientele of Muslims, Christians and Jews from Israel and abroad, visitors will hear Hebrew, Arabic, English and a smattering of other languages being spoken between licks.
Adam Ziv and Alaa Sawitat opened Bouza (“ice cream” in Arabic) and quickly attracted a steady stream of clientele curious about this partnership between an Arab Muslim and a Jewish kibbutznik in the Tarshiha shuk (marketplace), which is not usually associated with swanky ice cream stores. But it’s the taste that brings customers back, says Ziv.
“We’re not just a novelty of being a Muslim-Jewish coexistence ice cream store,” Ziv tells ISRAEL21c. “We make ice cream that people like.”
The other day we looked outside and saw people from a Jewish village in the Galilee sitting beside a group of Arab youths from Tarshiha. A friend of mine looked at me and said, ‘So, this is the new Middle East.’”