The majority of citizens of Syria and Israel bear much less hostility towards each other than they thought, according to an Israeli reporter, who entered Syria to conduct interviews. Itai Engel from Israel Channel 2 is the first Israeli television reporter to conduct interviews in Syria. He said on Saturday that there is basis for peaceful dialogue between Syria and Israel. Engel entered Syria in December last year with the help of some Syrian rebels, who found him reporting around the border area between Turkey and Syria. They did not know his real identity at the time, because he was using a fake name and passport, as his fellow countrymen usually do when trying to enter Arab countries having tense relations with Israel. "If they found out that I am an Israeli, I think I will be killed," Engel said. He said he saw more Syrian rebel militants after entering Idlib province in northern Syria and was frightened when a militant mentioned Israel's former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during a conversation. "We have no problem with the Alawites, the Christians and the Jews. If Sharon came and said that he opposed Bashar, we would see him as brother," the militant then said. "I was very afraid when I heard it. Why does he mention Sharon? Does he understand that I'm Israeli? Do I look so Jewish? Immediately I asked him, 'Sharon, is it this Israeli guy I know-' And immediately I tried to move the conversation to other places. Because the discussion about Sharon and about Israel made me panic," Engel said during Saturday's interview with a CCTV reporter. Engel made a documentary with the footage he shot in Syria and broadcast it in Israel. "Israeli people, including myself, were raised under the idea that, on our border, the state of Syria consists of people who are the pure enemy that want to eliminate completely the state of Israel. And there is absolutely nothing to talk with them about. Now when I go in and I talk to people, I realize that it's not necessarily the case," he said.
