Manal did not know the meaning of the word "ghetto," nor where it came from. All she knew was that the residents of Lod, [the city fenced in by wire], had heard the word from Israeli soldiers and came to believe that "ghetto" meant the Palestinian quarter, or the Arab quarter, as the Israelis had decided to label the land’s indigenous inhabitants. Only Maamoun knew the truth: "The ghetto is the name for Jewish quarters in Europe." "So... does that mean we’ve become Jews?" Manal asked naively.