...you too can study Arabic in Palestine! I have had people ask me what the options are for studying Arabic here, so let me lay it on you.
First, I have to give props to my teacher Issa. My language classes are through the Kenyon Institute which is a division of The Council for British Research in the Levant. Classes have just ended for this session but begin again on April 30th - June 28th. After that, he then starts classes back up in September. The class is mostly colloquial and is held two days a week. It is probably one of the better deals around at 1,200 NIS. (Approximately, $325) You can reach Issa directly at issa.faltas@gmail.com or contact the Kenyon Institute at kenyon@cbrl.org.uk
I met two cool people in Ramallah last week at an Advocacy Fair sponsored by AIDA and PNGO. The gave me info about their summer language programs that include homestays. The first was The Palestine Summer Encounter through The Middle East Fellowship. http://www.middleeastfellowship.org/pse2007
The second was Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies. http://www.sirajcenter.org/courses.htm
Both are definitely worth checking out. If you plan on just doing a short course, I would suggest going with a homestay.
There are also options through
Birzeit University http://home.birzeit.edu/pas/
Al-Quds University http://www.alquds.edu/qiss/index.php?page=about
I would suggest that anyone coming to study Arabic at a Palestinian institution should enter Israel on a tourist visa and keep their yap shut about their linguist aspirations. No need to risk getting turned back at Ben Gurion Airport--and people do get turned back.
If you're the adventurous type, I would even recommend not signing up for any course until you've arrive. There are quite a few options available that you won't find through an internet search. (That's how I found the Kenyon Institute)
As I hear of more, I'll post.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Gaza Imploding
I love to hear Palestinians tell stories of how Gaza used to be, because it reminds me that mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, uncles, aunts, grandmothers and grandfathers live there--not just the armed militants that make the news. All anyone needs to do is to reach for their dusty copy of "Lord of the Flies" and they'll be able to understand why Gazan society is imploding. The simplistic analysis offered by armchair Middle East pundits states that "Gaza minus Settlers equals Gaza's opportunity for peace and prosperity". When Gazan tribal politics erupt, these same dumbdits state that this just "proves" their point that Palestinians are incapable of helping themselves. This somehow puts the Israeli Occupation in a positive light--the Israelis must be doing Palestinians a favor by sticking around because clearly Palestinians are predisposed to self-destructive behavior.
I completely agree that the violence among factions is absolutely sinful. The truth is that political and economic greed drives militants to engage in violence against fellow Palestinians. The power struggle includes those who pick up the banner of Islam to legitimize their claim to power. It becomes a pissing contest to see who is the real Palestinian/Muslim/Freedom Fighter. Then new groups like Army of Islam throw their kaffiyeh into the ring, and they completely up the ante. In turn, this banner provides cover for militants who attack women in the name of "honor". But let me be clear, there is no honor in attacking the most vulnerable members of society. Furthermore, the attack on "honor" is often just a means for political rivals to damage the reputation of the other. If the women of one party are deemed "dishonorable" than the entire party is tainted. It is the same logic that war criminals used when they authorized rape as a means of perpetrating genocide.
But the reality of Gaza is that it takes more than just the removal of a couple thousand settlers to empower Gazans to build a viable Palestinian state. A professor once told me that if someone ever presents a bivariate analysis of an issue as "absolute proof" of their hypothesis, you know they are either conning you or they're too dumb to know anything about anything.
Gaza is often referred to as the largest prison in the world simply because the movement of approximately one and a half million Gazans is completely restricted by land, air and sea. It is also often noted as the most densely populated place on earth. The economy is in a perpetual strangle hold due to restrictions on industry that can only flourish through the export of goods beyond the Strip. If you can't ship your goods by land, and can't ship your goods by sea, and you can't ship your goods by air, and NO ONE around you has any money because unemployment is estimated to be around 80%, what is the point of producing goods?
How are people supposed to embrace democratization and enforce the rule of law when they are trying desperately to find a way to feed their family? Healthy legal and social institutions don't just spontaneously emerge in a power vacuum. In times of severe economic crisis, an organic socialist model in which all people benevolently care for one another does not automatically emerge (although, against great odds, Palestinian civil society has demonstrated remarkable skill in that area) I don't mean to get all Thomas Hobbes on you, but when times are hard, people take care of their own. It is human nature to hunker down into a tribal mentality. As a result of years of economic and political misery, good people are getting caught in the crosshairs of factional violence that erupts as these "tribes" scrambled to gain control of scarce resources.
Settlers or no settlers, when people are starving they become desperate. These are desperate times in Gaza.
I completely agree that the violence among factions is absolutely sinful. The truth is that political and economic greed drives militants to engage in violence against fellow Palestinians. The power struggle includes those who pick up the banner of Islam to legitimize their claim to power. It becomes a pissing contest to see who is the real Palestinian/Muslim/Freedom Fighter. Then new groups like Army of Islam throw their kaffiyeh into the ring, and they completely up the ante. In turn, this banner provides cover for militants who attack women in the name of "honor". But let me be clear, there is no honor in attacking the most vulnerable members of society. Furthermore, the attack on "honor" is often just a means for political rivals to damage the reputation of the other. If the women of one party are deemed "dishonorable" than the entire party is tainted. It is the same logic that war criminals used when they authorized rape as a means of perpetrating genocide.
But the reality of Gaza is that it takes more than just the removal of a couple thousand settlers to empower Gazans to build a viable Palestinian state. A professor once told me that if someone ever presents a bivariate analysis of an issue as "absolute proof" of their hypothesis, you know they are either conning you or they're too dumb to know anything about anything.
Gaza is often referred to as the largest prison in the world simply because the movement of approximately one and a half million Gazans is completely restricted by land, air and sea. It is also often noted as the most densely populated place on earth. The economy is in a perpetual strangle hold due to restrictions on industry that can only flourish through the export of goods beyond the Strip. If you can't ship your goods by land, and can't ship your goods by sea, and you can't ship your goods by air, and NO ONE around you has any money because unemployment is estimated to be around 80%, what is the point of producing goods?
How are people supposed to embrace democratization and enforce the rule of law when they are trying desperately to find a way to feed their family? Healthy legal and social institutions don't just spontaneously emerge in a power vacuum. In times of severe economic crisis, an organic socialist model in which all people benevolently care for one another does not automatically emerge (although, against great odds, Palestinian civil society has demonstrated remarkable skill in that area) I don't mean to get all Thomas Hobbes on you, but when times are hard, people take care of their own. It is human nature to hunker down into a tribal mentality. As a result of years of economic and political misery, good people are getting caught in the crosshairs of factional violence that erupts as these "tribes" scrambled to gain control of scarce resources.
Settlers or no settlers, when people are starving they become desperate. These are desperate times in Gaza.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Why Do We Hurt Each Other with Our Words?
A couple of years ago I took a class called “Voices of Modern Jewish Literature”. For anyone who would like to understand more about the motivations of Israelis, American Jews and Zionist support networks in relation to security, it would serve you to read some of the remarkable works of fiction that came out of the Diaspora community. One of my favorite books is an anthology titled “Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction from the Edge”. I tried to get rid of most of my possessions before moving here and leaving that particular book behind almost broke my heart. I hate the idea that someone, who doesn’t appreciate this kind of literature the way I do, might be using it as a coaster for their morning coffee. “Dreaming the Actual” is another fantastic anthology by female Israeli writers.
Below is a list of short stories that I absolutely loved. I had to read through my old journal entries to find the titles, but it is funny how over the years I have “memories” of these different stories. Every once in awhile I think about the little boy in “The Story of My Dovecot” or I remember the haunting feeling I had when I read “The Shawl”. The only problem is that I forgot to write from where the short stories came. I’m sure if you Google the titles or authors you’ll be able to find the name of the collection. One anthology is probably “The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature”.
“A Dream of Sleep” by Steve Almond
“How to Make It to the Promised Land” by Ellen Umansky
“A Room on the Roof” forget the author—about Israeli & Palestinian relations through the lens of both gender and ethnic identity.
“Hayuta’s Engagement Party”
“Legacy of Raizel Kaidish: A Story” by Rebecca Goldstein
“The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick
“The Story of My Dovecot” by Isaac Babel
“The Spinoza of Market Street” by Issac Singer
“Angel Levine” and “The Magic Barrel” by Bernard Malamud
“A Yom Kippur Scandal” by Sholem Aleichem
I have been thinking about this particular literature class lately because I realize now that my professor wasn’t the xenophobe I had thought him to be. Uh, that’s not completely true. He probably is. He used to address the Christian minority in the class by saying, “Gentiles, are you familiar with blah, blah, blah...?” On the face of it, it doesn’t seem to be that offensive, but if you plug any other religion or ethnic group into that example, you’d have to agree it is a little peculiar to make such a distinction. For example, if there is a minority of Caucasians in an African American literature class, it would be highly irregular for the professor to say “Okay White People, are you familiar with the expression blah, blah, blah...?”
I now have to admit that his paranoia wasn’t completely without merit. My professor was very open about his belief that as a Jew, he was a walking target. The Passion of Christ had hit the theatres and he believed that Mel Gibson was heralding a new era of anti-Semitism. Although he was boycotting the film (so he had no first hand knowledge), he was certain that it was a deliberate provocation against the Jewish people. At one point when discussing the reason why most Jews view Israel as a lifeboat in a tumultuous, hostile sea, he exclaimed, “All it takes is for one severe financial crisis to hit this country and you might as well spark up the ovens-- ‘cause we’ll be the first to go.” I asked him, “Do you really believe another Holocaust is likely in this day and age—and here in America?” He replied that it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when”. At the time I thought what a kook.
I think I owe my professor an apology. Since I have been here, I am chilled to say that anti-Semitism is alive and well. I am not referring to the heated debates that arise from the political situation between Israel and the Arab World. I absolutely deplore those people who claim that critics of either Israeli policies or AIPAC are anti-Semites. Gagging free thinking and human rights advocacy by crying the wolf of anti-Semitism is a disgrace. It is as unethical as accusing a man of pedophilia in order to thwart his political ambitions. That kind of ad hominem accusation causes irreparable harm to one’s character and, despite conclusive proof of innocence, it is impossible to ever fully erase the mark of Cain. Furthermore, the indiscriminate use of the word desensitizes people to the real meaning.
For me, the specter of anti-Semitism has arisen in the company of some European and Australian expats. The conversation usually begins by discussing something seemingly innocuous. One French woman I know was discussing the violation of Muslim civil rights in her own country. She was talking about how there are horrible examples of racism against people of African descent in France. Then apropos of nothing she said “But the Jews have laws to protect their civil liberties! Why do Jews always get such special treatment! You can’t say anything derogatory about a Jew for fear of breaking the law...there is such a sense of entitlement!”
I just stared at her because I couldn’t figure out her logic. Did she think that Jews were given protection at the expense of Muslims? Here’s a crazy notion: instead of revoking the human rights of Jews, why not push for legislation that will protect the human rights of Muslims, too? Or better yet, maybe ALL humans, regardless of religion or national origin, should have the right to live and work in a safe, prosperous society? I would think that those two things are mutually exclusive, no? She is a citizen of France, so I would think that if Muslim rights were an issue of utmost importance to her and her well heeled Parisian friends, collectively they could rock enough political boats to bring about real change. She had no response. Probably because she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the right of African Muslims in France--she needed a springboard for her anti-Jew rant and that issue served her well.
On a side bar, this same woman can’t seem to stop telling me how absolutely cretinous Americans are. I am the only American in my Arabic class and I generally ignore generalizations about my fellow compatriots—especially when they come from people who have never even been to my fair land. (I include in that classification those foreigners who lack the imagination to ever venture beyond New York City.) The other day though, I just snapped. She was yapping on about how fat Americans are--despite the fact that she is considerably pudgier than me. She also made this comment shortly after rejecting an invitation to join me in doing yoga a couple of times a week after class. (We do need to start preparations for bikini season, afterall.)
This woman was spouting on about how Americans only eat McDonalds and I just cut her off. I said “That is sooooo unoriginal and every time I hear a European say that, I just want to tell them how stupid it sounds...There are 300 million people in America, are you seriously going to tell me that you have absolute knowledge about the dietary habits of such an extremely large, ethnically & geographically diverse population?” At that point, the other women chimed in that they also had had enough. Stereotypes are hurtful and pointless. I think they were just embarrassed that this woman was so oblivious. Even if she really believed what she was saying, where were her manners? Where does someone get the idea that they can blabber on authoritatively about a country they’ve never even been to? Truth be told, I will never suffer carpal tunnel due to excessive flag waving, but the Yankee Doodle in me comes out when I encounter people who are hungry for an all-American knuckle sandwich. If you don’t have an intelligent, well-formulated criticism, shut your yap. Plus, everyone was really getting along before her rant; nationality was completely irrelevant to everyone but the frog. (yes, I know that was mean. Maybe my Big Mac withdrawal is making me cranky.)
Another topic that rings like nails down a chalk board for me is that of the “Jewish Mafia” in the United States. There is one Australian character here who I try desperately to avoid—often to no avail. One of his favorite topics to discuss AT me is the Jewish Mafia Conspiracy in the United States. It is so “Elders of Zion” I just want to stab myself in the eye so I can feel something less painful than listening to his vitriolic account of everything that is wrong with my country. I just stare blankly ahead and hope that if I don’t move he will believe that he has successfully brainwashed me into believing his verbal diarrhea. “Yes...Master...Paul Wolfowitz is an Elder...not just an incompetent twat who guided my country into a senseless war without any nuanced understanding of the Middle East...ummmmm....Master...we are all puppets of the Jews.”
I think on one level I am bothered just because he begins from the assumption that 1) I have no understanding of how power politics actually work within the U.S. lobbying culture. He thinks that I need tender guidance so he can reveal to me the dark underbelly of the U.S. system...DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUN: AIPAC! I feel like saying, “Listen Assface, what exactly do you think my background is? I know more about the topic than some half bake like yourself, so why don’t you go sit down, crack open another Fosters and leave the conspiracy theorizing to those clever enough to put together a kitschy weblog or a syndicated column in The Guardian”.
And 2) it’s not just me he is underestimating. He is assuming that my entire country has been duped. According to this guy, the secret of AIPAC is so well concealed that only the highest echelons of the U.S. government are privy to its AWESOME power. I’m like, “Dude, we have every conceivable ethnic mafia and special interest group in the U.S.: Italian, Irish, Russian mafias...MS-13 are running roughshod from Washington, DC to El Salvador...There are Political Action Committees (PACs) for gun control, anti-gun control, tobacco, anti-smoking, oil, steel, plastics, pro-life, pro-choice, pharmaceuticals, communications, environmental conservation, insecticides, coal mining, the Catholic Church, the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX... If you want to pull the strings in America, you need three things: organizational strategy, a unifying issue and moohla. And if you have the first two, the third will likely follow. It’s not a secret formula. The steam behind AIPAC is that so many boogeyman stories have been told that it is hard to tell myth from reality. The fact is they have brilliant strategists. The best we can do, if we don’t like AIPAC’s influence in the U.S., is to learn from their strategy and mimic it.
Anyway, if he wants to talk about AWESOME lobbying power, he should check out AARP! Now that is a scary bunch of well organized mo-fo’s. Senior citizens run the most powerful lobby my country has ever known. So, if you want to simplify things, find a way to coordinate the senior citizen agenda with the rights of Palestinians. Then just sit back and watch the blue hair fly.
Below is a list of short stories that I absolutely loved. I had to read through my old journal entries to find the titles, but it is funny how over the years I have “memories” of these different stories. Every once in awhile I think about the little boy in “The Story of My Dovecot” or I remember the haunting feeling I had when I read “The Shawl”. The only problem is that I forgot to write from where the short stories came. I’m sure if you Google the titles or authors you’ll be able to find the name of the collection. One anthology is probably “The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature”.
“A Dream of Sleep” by Steve Almond
“How to Make It to the Promised Land” by Ellen Umansky
“A Room on the Roof” forget the author—about Israeli & Palestinian relations through the lens of both gender and ethnic identity.
“Hayuta’s Engagement Party”
“Legacy of Raizel Kaidish: A Story” by Rebecca Goldstein
“The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick
“The Story of My Dovecot” by Isaac Babel
“The Spinoza of Market Street” by Issac Singer
“Angel Levine” and “The Magic Barrel” by Bernard Malamud
“A Yom Kippur Scandal” by Sholem Aleichem
I have been thinking about this particular literature class lately because I realize now that my professor wasn’t the xenophobe I had thought him to be. Uh, that’s not completely true. He probably is. He used to address the Christian minority in the class by saying, “Gentiles, are you familiar with blah, blah, blah...?” On the face of it, it doesn’t seem to be that offensive, but if you plug any other religion or ethnic group into that example, you’d have to agree it is a little peculiar to make such a distinction. For example, if there is a minority of Caucasians in an African American literature class, it would be highly irregular for the professor to say “Okay White People, are you familiar with the expression blah, blah, blah...?”
I now have to admit that his paranoia wasn’t completely without merit. My professor was very open about his belief that as a Jew, he was a walking target. The Passion of Christ had hit the theatres and he believed that Mel Gibson was heralding a new era of anti-Semitism. Although he was boycotting the film (so he had no first hand knowledge), he was certain that it was a deliberate provocation against the Jewish people. At one point when discussing the reason why most Jews view Israel as a lifeboat in a tumultuous, hostile sea, he exclaimed, “All it takes is for one severe financial crisis to hit this country and you might as well spark up the ovens-- ‘cause we’ll be the first to go.” I asked him, “Do you really believe another Holocaust is likely in this day and age—and here in America?” He replied that it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when”. At the time I thought what a kook.
I think I owe my professor an apology. Since I have been here, I am chilled to say that anti-Semitism is alive and well. I am not referring to the heated debates that arise from the political situation between Israel and the Arab World. I absolutely deplore those people who claim that critics of either Israeli policies or AIPAC are anti-Semites. Gagging free thinking and human rights advocacy by crying the wolf of anti-Semitism is a disgrace. It is as unethical as accusing a man of pedophilia in order to thwart his political ambitions. That kind of ad hominem accusation causes irreparable harm to one’s character and, despite conclusive proof of innocence, it is impossible to ever fully erase the mark of Cain. Furthermore, the indiscriminate use of the word desensitizes people to the real meaning.
For me, the specter of anti-Semitism has arisen in the company of some European and Australian expats. The conversation usually begins by discussing something seemingly innocuous. One French woman I know was discussing the violation of Muslim civil rights in her own country. She was talking about how there are horrible examples of racism against people of African descent in France. Then apropos of nothing she said “But the Jews have laws to protect their civil liberties! Why do Jews always get such special treatment! You can’t say anything derogatory about a Jew for fear of breaking the law...there is such a sense of entitlement!”
I just stared at her because I couldn’t figure out her logic. Did she think that Jews were given protection at the expense of Muslims? Here’s a crazy notion: instead of revoking the human rights of Jews, why not push for legislation that will protect the human rights of Muslims, too? Or better yet, maybe ALL humans, regardless of religion or national origin, should have the right to live and work in a safe, prosperous society? I would think that those two things are mutually exclusive, no? She is a citizen of France, so I would think that if Muslim rights were an issue of utmost importance to her and her well heeled Parisian friends, collectively they could rock enough political boats to bring about real change. She had no response. Probably because she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the right of African Muslims in France--she needed a springboard for her anti-Jew rant and that issue served her well.
On a side bar, this same woman can’t seem to stop telling me how absolutely cretinous Americans are. I am the only American in my Arabic class and I generally ignore generalizations about my fellow compatriots—especially when they come from people who have never even been to my fair land. (I include in that classification those foreigners who lack the imagination to ever venture beyond New York City.) The other day though, I just snapped. She was yapping on about how fat Americans are--despite the fact that she is considerably pudgier than me. She also made this comment shortly after rejecting an invitation to join me in doing yoga a couple of times a week after class. (We do need to start preparations for bikini season, afterall.)
This woman was spouting on about how Americans only eat McDonalds and I just cut her off. I said “That is sooooo unoriginal and every time I hear a European say that, I just want to tell them how stupid it sounds...There are 300 million people in America, are you seriously going to tell me that you have absolute knowledge about the dietary habits of such an extremely large, ethnically & geographically diverse population?” At that point, the other women chimed in that they also had had enough. Stereotypes are hurtful and pointless. I think they were just embarrassed that this woman was so oblivious. Even if she really believed what she was saying, where were her manners? Where does someone get the idea that they can blabber on authoritatively about a country they’ve never even been to? Truth be told, I will never suffer carpal tunnel due to excessive flag waving, but the Yankee Doodle in me comes out when I encounter people who are hungry for an all-American knuckle sandwich. If you don’t have an intelligent, well-formulated criticism, shut your yap. Plus, everyone was really getting along before her rant; nationality was completely irrelevant to everyone but the frog. (yes, I know that was mean. Maybe my Big Mac withdrawal is making me cranky.)
Another topic that rings like nails down a chalk board for me is that of the “Jewish Mafia” in the United States. There is one Australian character here who I try desperately to avoid—often to no avail. One of his favorite topics to discuss AT me is the Jewish Mafia Conspiracy in the United States. It is so “Elders of Zion” I just want to stab myself in the eye so I can feel something less painful than listening to his vitriolic account of everything that is wrong with my country. I just stare blankly ahead and hope that if I don’t move he will believe that he has successfully brainwashed me into believing his verbal diarrhea. “Yes...Master...Paul Wolfowitz is an Elder...not just an incompetent twat who guided my country into a senseless war without any nuanced understanding of the Middle East...ummmmm....Master...we are all puppets of the Jews.”
I think on one level I am bothered just because he begins from the assumption that 1) I have no understanding of how power politics actually work within the U.S. lobbying culture. He thinks that I need tender guidance so he can reveal to me the dark underbelly of the U.S. system...DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUN: AIPAC! I feel like saying, “Listen Assface, what exactly do you think my background is? I know more about the topic than some half bake like yourself, so why don’t you go sit down, crack open another Fosters and leave the conspiracy theorizing to those clever enough to put together a kitschy weblog or a syndicated column in The Guardian”.
And 2) it’s not just me he is underestimating. He is assuming that my entire country has been duped. According to this guy, the secret of AIPAC is so well concealed that only the highest echelons of the U.S. government are privy to its AWESOME power. I’m like, “Dude, we have every conceivable ethnic mafia and special interest group in the U.S.: Italian, Irish, Russian mafias...MS-13 are running roughshod from Washington, DC to El Salvador...There are Political Action Committees (PACs) for gun control, anti-gun control, tobacco, anti-smoking, oil, steel, plastics, pro-life, pro-choice, pharmaceuticals, communications, environmental conservation, insecticides, coal mining, the Catholic Church, the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX... If you want to pull the strings in America, you need three things: organizational strategy, a unifying issue and moohla. And if you have the first two, the third will likely follow. It’s not a secret formula. The steam behind AIPAC is that so many boogeyman stories have been told that it is hard to tell myth from reality. The fact is they have brilliant strategists. The best we can do, if we don’t like AIPAC’s influence in the U.S., is to learn from their strategy and mimic it.
Anyway, if he wants to talk about AWESOME lobbying power, he should check out AARP! Now that is a scary bunch of well organized mo-fo’s. Senior citizens run the most powerful lobby my country has ever known. So, if you want to simplify things, find a way to coordinate the senior citizen agenda with the rights of Palestinians. Then just sit back and watch the blue hair fly.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
And then Hell froze over...
So, last weekend I was frolicking about in a mineral mud pit at the Dead Sea in 80 degree weather and now it’s sleeting and snowing outside. My wussy response to the change in weather has resigned me to the fact that I’m no longer entitled to call myself a New Englander. I decided to skip school because I didn’t trust my feet to make it down the 45 degree angle on which every road in Jerusalem is built. I’m just not equipped for the terrain anymore...I don’t even have a scarf with me...My shoes have lost their tread from all of the walking I do here. I could fall!...Stop judging me. I just didn't feel like going.
Anywho, I’ve just been reminded that I haven’t posted in a long time. My internet connection is pretty erratic, so I have been using the few moments of consistent connection judiciously. You know, for important things like quality celeb gossip surfing and downloading episodes of "The Office" from iTunes. So here is a recap of my life recently:
I cut class on Thursday so I could go get a MUCH needed hair cut. 170 Shekels later I realized that I would have been better off if I just snipped my split ends with toenail clippers and called it a day. I walked out looking like I was wearing a wig from the “Pat Benatar and Chrissie Hynde Rock the 80s” Collection. This is not my first time trying to negotiate a haircut in a foreign language and usually I am able to convey what I want. (Case in point: Quito Ecuador, November 1998. Hair "salon" was actually someone's garage. Hair was washed with dish detergent and request was conducted completely in Spanish. End result was a flawless angled bob. It would be worth the airfare to go back for regular trims.) If I can't give precise instructions, at least I am able to convey that I am absolutely terrified that they are going to chop it to bits, so most stylists are pretty gentle with me. My dentist proceeds with the same kind of caution.
In
my naiveté, I really thought that it would be a safe bet to go to a salon that was a little more expensive. The hairstylist seemed so passionate and meticulous. Seeing my reluctance, he assured me that he loves long hair. What he didn’t mention was that it was long hair of the “business in the front and party in the back” variety. The end result was something that my four year old niece could have pulled off with her safety scissors and a well positioned upside down bowl on my head. After all of the years that I have been trying to grow my hair out long, you couldn’t possibly understand my pain... I'm thisclose to chopping it Winona Ryder short and going back to blonde.
This weekend was pretty mellow. I went out Friday night to see what I thought was going to be Flamenco dancing. It wasn’t—just a quartet playing flamenco music. By the end of the performance everyone was asking each other "The email said "dancing", right?" About halfway through, I realized two things: 1) I have never actually heard flamenco music. I think I went because I had images in my head of a woman in red frilly tiered dresses stomping her feet and clicking her castinettes. And when I say “a woman in red frilly dresses”, I mean “Bugs Bunny dressed as a woman in a red frilly dress trying to outsmart Elmer Fudd”. Sadly, I think that is the extent of my Iberian cultural fluency.
And 2) I don’t know what avant garde means. I really enjoyed their traditional pieces, but every original composition was introduced as being “avant garde”. I suspect it means music without a consistent beat, melody or theme. Not once did the music inspire my foot to tap or make me sway to the beat. We left and went to Jerusalem Hotel to hear some fabulous live Arabic music, and that’s where the foot tapping and swaying began in earnest. My friend and I were coaxed out of our chairs to dance with the local crowd, and I did my best to recall the moves from my “Hip Drop-Hip Hop Belly Dance Fitness for Weight Loss” DVD. True to the spirit of “Arab Hospitality” everyone was very gracious and no one laughed too loudly.
The next day the Mount of Olives community was hit by tragedy. A taxi driver was arrested by Israeli soldiers on Salahedin Street and died in their custody. There have been conflicting stories about what had happened, but the version I heard most frequently was that he was arrested for having a Palestinian woman, who was in Jerusalem without authorization, in his sherut taxi. The Israelis claimed that he had a heart attack, but the man’s family insists that he had been beaten to death. I have not heard whether or not his body had been released for an independent investigation, but no one believes that it was just a heart attack. Maybe if he was severely obese, a heavy smoker with a history of heart problems and a cocaine addiction then, sure... a 35 year old man can have a heart attack. The death of an innocent man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time is just the kind of provocation that brings people out into the streets.
Saturday night we were leaving the compound to go to see “The Lives of Others”. A mob of men were blocking the gate and we were unsure if we were going to be able to leave. They eventually let us through and you could see quite a bit of commotion at the bottom of the hill. One of the men said that we should go to the right because it was unsafe for us to drive down toward the protests. There is something surreal about driving into West Jerusalem, to do something as banal as going to a movie, when there is unrest on the East side. I think with the exception of the few pockets that are obsessed with security, most Israelis are completely oblivious to what is going on a mile or two away.
For a few days after the taxi driver was killed, Israeli military jeeps were parked on the corner down from our compound. The first day they were restricting traffic from entering the Mount of Olives, but on the following days, I think they were just trying to make their presence known. Whenever I see the soldiers camped out at an intersection that leads to Mount of Olives or Wadi Joz, the same image always appears in my mind. The soldiers serve as the lid on a boiling pot. If they keep the neighborhoods contained then no one outside of them will get burned. In reality, it really is just a matter of time before that pot boils over. And when it does, I think the foremost response in West Jerusalem will be one of surprise.
Interestingly enough, “The Lives of Others” has been playing to sold out crowds here. I find it somewhat ironic. The film is about life in East Berlin from 1984 up to the reunification of the two Germanys. The movie revolves around an artistic community and their assumed subversive activities. But as the movie progresses, a Stasi agent emerges as the unlikely protagonist. By observing the lives of others, he is touched by their humanity and begins to realize that his devotion to the ideals of the state was at the expense of his own humanity. Previously he had viewed all civilians as potential enemies of the state, but a set of circumstances led the inspector to become involved in the most intimate details of a couple’s relationship. The more time he spent eavesdropping on their daily lives, the more he began to empathize with them.
What I found ironic is that the Palestinian community lives in a similar state of constant surveillance. Their society has an equal share of collaborators and intelligence gathering institutions designed to crush subversion. There are some checkpoint soldiers who have commented that they don’t blame the Palestinians for their response to the occupation. These soldiers witness the lives of thousands of human beings as they are herded through checkpoint turnstiles. I think that Israelis can only cope with this “security state” by either creating alternative realities that strip an entire population of individual human characteristics, trying to completely avoid witnessing the treatment of the Palestinian population or by abandoning their unwavering allegiance to the state apparatus.
I would highly recommend that others check out this film. You can check out info through this link: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/
Anywho, I’ve just been reminded that I haven’t posted in a long time. My internet connection is pretty erratic, so I have been using the few moments of consistent connection judiciously. You know, for important things like quality celeb gossip surfing and downloading episodes of "The Office" from iTunes. So here is a recap of my life recently:
I cut class on Thursday so I could go get a MUCH needed hair cut. 170 Shekels later I realized that I would have been better off if I just snipped my split ends with toenail clippers and called it a day. I walked out looking like I was wearing a wig from the “Pat Benatar and Chrissie Hynde Rock the 80s” Collection. This is not my first time trying to negotiate a haircut in a foreign language and usually I am able to convey what I want. (Case in point: Quito Ecuador, November 1998. Hair "salon" was actually someone's garage. Hair was washed with dish detergent and request was conducted completely in Spanish. End result was a flawless angled bob. It would be worth the airfare to go back for regular trims.) If I can't give precise instructions, at least I am able to convey that I am absolutely terrified that they are going to chop it to bits, so most stylists are pretty gentle with me. My dentist proceeds with the same kind of caution.In
my naiveté, I really thought that it would be a safe bet to go to a salon that was a little more expensive. The hairstylist seemed so passionate and meticulous. Seeing my reluctance, he assured me that he loves long hair. What he didn’t mention was that it was long hair of the “business in the front and party in the back” variety. The end result was something that my four year old niece could have pulled off with her safety scissors and a well positioned upside down bowl on my head. After all of the years that I have been trying to grow my hair out long, you couldn’t possibly understand my pain... I'm thisclose to chopping it Winona Ryder short and going back to blonde.This weekend was pretty mellow. I went out Friday night to see what I thought was going to be Flamenco dancing. It wasn’t—just a quartet playing flamenco music. By the end of the performance everyone was asking each other "The email said "dancing", right?" About halfway through, I realized two things: 1) I have never actually heard flamenco music. I think I went because I had images in my head of a woman in red frilly tiered dresses stomping her feet and clicking her castinettes. And when I say “a woman in red frilly dresses”, I mean “Bugs Bunny dressed as a woman in a red frilly dress trying to outsmart Elmer Fudd”. Sadly, I think that is the extent of my Iberian cultural fluency.
And 2) I don’t know what avant garde means. I really enjoyed their traditional pieces, but every original composition was introduced as being “avant garde”. I suspect it means music without a consistent beat, melody or theme. Not once did the music inspire my foot to tap or make me sway to the beat. We left and went to Jerusalem Hotel to hear some fabulous live Arabic music, and that’s where the foot tapping and swaying began in earnest. My friend and I were coaxed out of our chairs to dance with the local crowd, and I did my best to recall the moves from my “Hip Drop-Hip Hop Belly Dance Fitness for Weight Loss” DVD. True to the spirit of “Arab Hospitality” everyone was very gracious and no one laughed too loudly.
The next day the Mount of Olives community was hit by tragedy. A taxi driver was arrested by Israeli soldiers on Salahedin Street and died in their custody. There have been conflicting stories about what had happened, but the version I heard most frequently was that he was arrested for having a Palestinian woman, who was in Jerusalem without authorization, in his sherut taxi. The Israelis claimed that he had a heart attack, but the man’s family insists that he had been beaten to death. I have not heard whether or not his body had been released for an independent investigation, but no one believes that it was just a heart attack. Maybe if he was severely obese, a heavy smoker with a history of heart problems and a cocaine addiction then, sure... a 35 year old man can have a heart attack. The death of an innocent man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time is just the kind of provocation that brings people out into the streets.
Saturday night we were leaving the compound to go to see “The Lives of Others”. A mob of men were blocking the gate and we were unsure if we were going to be able to leave. They eventually let us through and you could see quite a bit of commotion at the bottom of the hill. One of the men said that we should go to the right because it was unsafe for us to drive down toward the protests. There is something surreal about driving into West Jerusalem, to do something as banal as going to a movie, when there is unrest on the East side. I think with the exception of the few pockets that are obsessed with security, most Israelis are completely oblivious to what is going on a mile or two away.
For a few days after the taxi driver was killed, Israeli military jeeps were parked on the corner down from our compound. The first day they were restricting traffic from entering the Mount of Olives, but on the following days, I think they were just trying to make their presence known. Whenever I see the soldiers camped out at an intersection that leads to Mount of Olives or Wadi Joz, the same image always appears in my mind. The soldiers serve as the lid on a boiling pot. If they keep the neighborhoods contained then no one outside of them will get burned. In reality, it really is just a matter of time before that pot boils over. And when it does, I think the foremost response in West Jerusalem will be one of surprise.
Interestingly enough, “The Lives of Others” has been playing to sold out crowds here. I find it somewhat ironic. The film is about life in East Berlin from 1984 up to the reunification of the two Germanys. The movie revolves around an artistic community and their assumed subversive activities. But as the movie progresses, a Stasi agent emerges as the unlikely protagonist. By observing the lives of others, he is touched by their humanity and begins to realize that his devotion to the ideals of the state was at the expense of his own humanity. Previously he had viewed all civilians as potential enemies of the state, but a set of circumstances led the inspector to become involved in the most intimate details of a couple’s relationship. The more time he spent eavesdropping on their daily lives, the more he began to empathize with them.
What I found ironic is that the Palestinian community lives in a similar state of constant surveillance. Their society has an equal share of collaborators and intelligence gathering institutions designed to crush subversion. There are some checkpoint soldiers who have commented that they don’t blame the Palestinians for their response to the occupation. These soldiers witness the lives of thousands of human beings as they are herded through checkpoint turnstiles. I think that Israelis can only cope with this “security state” by either creating alternative realities that strip an entire population of individual human characteristics, trying to completely avoid witnessing the treatment of the Palestinian population or by abandoning their unwavering allegiance to the state apparatus.
I would highly recommend that others check out this film. You can check out info through this link: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/
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