Well Wouldn't You Know?

(Thanks to Rhonda Spivak)

Although few would say so publicly, every one of the handful of East Jerusalem Arabs I spoke with in the last two weeks said that he would rather live under Israeli sovereignty than under Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority.

In the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem, I met Asem, who sells soccer jerseys and sports wear. In his shop, there is a soccer jersey with the name PALESTINE in big letters on a blue background. Asem tells me there is no national soccer team for PALESTINE, but "but we have the shirt.”

But, although he sells a soccer jersey saying PALESTINE, Asem is in no rush to have East Jerusalem become the capital of a Palestinian state under PA President Abbas. When I ask him if he would prefer to live under Abbas in a state of Palestine, rather than under Israeli sovereignty, he gives me the opposite answer of what I expected.

“No, I would rather live under Israelis than under Abbas. Abbas is a thief like Arafat was. But I would rather have Abbas than King Abdullah.”

When I ask him why he prefers to stay under Israeli rule than PA rule, he answers, “At least here I can say what I want. In Syria, if you say what you want, you can go missing forever. In Jordan too. And under Abbas, too. It is chaos there [under PA rule]. Abbas can stay in Ramallah, and stay out of Jerusalem.”

Asem’s Palestinian friend in the shop nodded in agreement. Asem did say that it’s not that he liked Israel per se, but that if given the choice, he prefers it to being ruled by the PA. He continued, “There are some nice homes in Ramallah. You know who lives in them. Abbas and his people. Not all of the other Palestinians. They are kept poor.”

Akram, a taxi driver living in Wadi Joz in East Jerusalem echoed Asam’s sentiments in wanting to remain under Israeli instead of Palestinian rule.
“Abbas, he should stay in Ramallah and not come to Jerusalem. We don’t need him here. We are different than Palestinians in Ramallah and elsewhere. They [the PA] are all “mamzerim’[bastards] and corrupt. I want to be Israeli. I have my Israeli identity card and I want to get my bituach leumi [national insurance benefit]. Who knows what it would be like to live under PA rule? But I don’t want to try it.”

Wadi Joz is a neighborhood where religious Jews have been trying to buy homes.
“There are Arabs who will sell for a lot of money but they do it quietly so no one will know. They make the deal but they make the possession date a long time away,” says Akram, who is pleased to tell me that his brother is entering the Israeli police force.

Moussa, a taxi driver waiting outside the Western wall tells me his name is “Moshey,” which is the Hebrew name for Moussa. Moussa is also definitive that he doesn’t want East Jerusalem to be a capital of a Palestinian state under Mahmoud Abbas. “It’s a balagan there in the West Bank [under Abbas]. I would keep my Israeli identity card...Baruch Hashem, I should live under the Israelis... It wouldn’t be better under Abbas.”

When Moussa says the words “ Baruch Hashem”, I can’t quite believe my ears. Did I hear you correctly saying Baruch Hashem, just like religious Jews do? Moussa smiles. “Yes, I speak like everyone else around here. I guess I picked up the expression.”

Firas, an Arab, who lives in Jerusalem’s Abu Tor neighborhood also says he isn’t in any rush to be under the PA, and is fine with the fact that there are “both Jews and Arabs who live in Abu Tor.”

“Who knows what kind of State there will be under Abbas. All my life I’ve lived under Israeli rule, so I don’t know anything else. But I don’t think my life would be better under the PA,” he says.

"One Small Step in the Process of Peace-Making"

For two weeks in July the village of Rechnitz, the apricot-growing center of Austria, became the center of reconciliation, tolerance and peace as eight Leo Baeck 11th graders from Haifa http://www.leobaeck.org.il/english/ set up house with their Palestinian and European peers in a "Dialogue 4 the Future" seminar. The Leo Baeck group was accompanied by their High School principal together with representatives of the Bereaved Families Circle, a group of Palestinians and Jews who have lost loved ones in the conflict.

Small steps during those early ice-breaking days - pronouncing each other's names correctly, house and camp rules for all, soccer and table tennis,
learning about siblings, hobbies, meeting the mayor, yodel music, drama workshops… The developing friendship between Sagi from Israel and Allah from
Ramallah; the common bond – mosquito bites!

On the 4th day the students began opening their hearts, expressing their personal and group goals using English as their common language. "Feeling safe together and knowing what the other thinks and feels," was a thread that ran throughout the process culminating in their mission statement, "It is our goal that we will all take part in an honest discussion that will help us to learn more about our different beliefs and change the way we understand each other."

Leo Baeck Principal blogged, "Day 11 was the reason we came here, the day when we went deep into the heart of the conflict… It was moving and painful, quiet and respectful… There are large gaps between us and yet within them there is a willingness to find common issues, and solutions. When the discussion ended everybody hugged, some cried."

The village of Rechnitz will remain as it always was, but for the 27 young people from Haifa, Ramallah, Hungary and Austria, who hugged and wept when they parted at the airport, those two weeks in the summer of 2009, were just the beginning. Follow up activities are already in process to ensure that the dialogue did not end in Rechnitz.

Leo Baeck believes that as the permanent Israeli "Dialogue 4 the Future" partner it can pave the way to a better future.

Two Tales of Education

Two reports below show two faces of the complex problem of education in the Palestinian curricula. I wonder which one will succeed? No prizes for guessing.

From a report in Palestinian Media Watch http://www.pmw.org.il/ we now see a new character on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television station to “continue” the legacy of its star martyr, Farfur – the Mickey Mouse lookalike who was "beaten to death" by an Israeli on the previous program. The new character on the children’s show Tomorrow’s Pioneers, a bee named Nahool, tells the hostess he is Farfur’s cousin and that he wishes to “continue the path of Farfur… the path of martyrdom, the path of the Jihad warriors… and in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets...” The expression "Murderers of the prophets" is an Islamic expression used by the Palestinian religious leaders to refer to Jews. Defining the Jews as the enemies of God is common in their religious broadcasting.

Without apparent regard for the sensitivities of their child viewers, the show’s creators killed off the Farfur character in a particularly violent way that allowed them to continue the show’s rabidly anti-Israel messages.It is now clear that these messages will continue through the new Nahool character.

The following is an excerpt from the program:Hostess Saraa’: “Who are you? And where did you come from?”Nahool: “I am Nahool [the bee], Farfur’s cousin.”Saraa’: “And what do you want?”Nahool: "I want to continue the path of Farfur, the path of “Islam is the solution”. The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of the Jihad warriors. Me and my friends shall continue the path of Farfur. And in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews], the murderers of innocent children, until Al-Aqsa will be liberated from their filth.”Saraa’: “Welcome! Welcome Nahool.”

On the other side of the coin, a recent report of educational cooperation reveals that Palestinian high school students from Ramallah, Bethlehem and east Jerusalem are working on technology projects alongside their Israeli counterparts from Beit Shemesh, Mevaseret Zion and west Jerusalem in the MEET (Middle East Education through Technology) program being taught at the Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus.

"I didn't realize they must serve in the army when they graduate from high school until we once spoke about it. I was shocked to hear they have to serve until the age of 21."

This sentence might not sound so surprising if it was coming from an overseas visitor. But the speaker is Anwaar, a 17-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem. She was talking about Amit and Nadav, fellow participants in MEET whom she has known for two years. "I don't know yet what I'll do in the army, I just know it's something I have to do," said Nadav. Amit added, "And we're happy to do it."

Most of MEET's funding comes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

When Anwaar and Manal, also from east Jerusalem, get together with Amit and Nadav, who both study at Leyada high school, also located on Givat Ram, they seldom, if ever, talk politics.

During this summer's school vacation they are busy writing commercial software for GHOST (Global Hosted Operating System), a Palestinian start-up company, developing a compatible task management application that will be accessible to users from any computer.

"I think being here while not talking politics really helps you to get to know each other. This situation helps with rearranging our ideas and minds about the other side," said Anwaar. "I will still be a Palestinian when it ends, but I'll have more experience and I'll get to know the person regardless of his citizenship."

MEET is in its fourth year; all 85 participants receive a scholarship that covers tuition, transportation, food and even the notebooks.

It's difficult to get into MEET. Thirty new students are chosen each year from about 440 applicants, after a selection process that includes a written exam, group dynamics and a personal interview.
Wissam Jarjoui, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Beit Hanina in north Jerusalem, completed the MEET program last year. This fall, he enters MIT with a full scholarship.

While Jarjoui works on his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering or nuclear physics - he hasn't decided which - his friend Lior Kastel, 18, also a graduate of MEET, will be serving in an IDF intelligence unit.