Even when the situation is depressing, members of the swing dance group in the West Bank town of Beit Jala continue to dance energetically. Birte Brodkorb, the group’s founder and instructor, is a German law student living in Tel Aviv. Every Thursday afternoon, she takes public transportation to Beit Jala to teach dance.

The modest Swing Dance Palestine group opened about six months ago. It has about a dozen regular members, most of them either Palestinian Christians or aid workers from Germany or the United States. Most of the Palestinians are men, whereas most of the foreigners are women. Overall, men usually outnumber women at the class.

Thus as Israel was preoccupied this week with the terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue and the fear of further attacks, in Beit Jala, Palestinians could be seen dancing to music from the 1920s that was reminiscent of a soundtrack from a Woody Allen movie. Everyone in the room seemed happy.

Despite their criticism of Israeli policy and the fact that most of the group’s members oppose normalizing relations with Israel while the occupation continues, they have made repeated attempts to meet with colleagues in Tel Aviv. Four times a meeting was arranged between the Beit Jala group and the Tel Aviv swing dance group, but at the last minute, they were denied permits to enter Israel. The last time, the permits actually arrived, but a day before the planned trip it turned out that one group member’s magnetic ID card had lapsed, and his fellows showed solidarity, refusing to go without him.

The Israeli and Palestinian groups have been in touch via Facebook, but if this bad luck continues, they might actually meet for the first time at a festival in the Irish town of Cork in February. The festival organizers were excited to learn about the two swing groups and offered to give the members free tickets in exchange for the privilege of seeing Israelis and Palestinians dancing.

“One day, I came here drunk,” said Sinan Abu Shanab of Bethlehem, one of the regulars. “I danced a little and fell in love with Birte’s romantic idea, which is to connect people on both sides through dance... Encounters like this give hope.”

“Beyond the pleasure of the dance, it’s important that they understand our suffering as Palestinians,” added Yakub, another member. “I’m against normalization with Israel, because we’re not in a normal situation. We’re under occupation. But those who dance with us are Israelis who understand our oppression. The encounter with Israelis changed their image for me.”

“The separation between the peoples creates stereotypes,” added Brodkorb, who is better known by her nickname, Bibi. “I don’t think the meeting between the swing groups will bring peace, but I know that if they don’t meet, it will be harder.”

On the day I came to Beit Jala, one of the leaders of the swing revival in Israel, Tal Engel, decided to visit there for the first time. Engel, who had never set foot in Palestinian territory before, was very excited.

After two hours of teaching, Engel and Brodkorb decided to show the group how professional swing dancing looked. They flew about the floor, putting on an impressive show. But instead of boosting the other members’ motivation, it had the opposite effect.

“I think we’re zeros,” Yakub said with a mournful face.

Engel hastened to correct him. “In swing, it doesn’t matter how well you dance, but how much you enjoy it and how much you honor your partner,” he said.