979guy
April-27th-2004, 12:37 PM
More often than not we encounter discussions on this board revolving around the Israeli-Palestinian-Jewish-Muslim-Western-Arab-etc-etc conflict. Usually it's all about death, hatred, violence, wrongs and rights. Understandable, considering the fact that there is indeed a lot of such material going around. Most posters on either side of the wrongs and the rights have their knowledge and opinions feeding either off of history books or off the news.
Sex and violence – that definitely sells well. Why tell the boring stories of ordinary people, living their ordinary lives. Not sexy enough for history, not violent enough for the news. Once in a while, between fending off one accusation and making another, I try to squeeze in such an anecdote. Sorry, but pessimism and cynicism are pretty cheap around these parts of town. Reality may sometimes be little more precious and, well, just as real… Trying to bring some of that here.
[line]
Yesterday was Memorial Day in Israel. It's a day of mourning, when the majority of Israelis remember their loved ones who have fallen in battle. Many attend commemoration services held in all military cemeteries. Schools hold services in memory of their fallen alumni. Radio stations broadcast mellow music and relevant shows. It's a day filled with genuine sadness. I'm proud to say that despite the Israeli hot-bloodedness (hot-headedness?) there is no crumb of a hint of feelings such as aggression, retaliation, revenge in our form of mourning.
On my way to the service at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery (kind of our Arlington Cemetery) in Jerusalem I heard an interview on the radio with a woman who lost her husband, a sergeant in the IDF. So, what's interesting in that, you ask, it's just another story. True, only the woman, as well as her husband who was killed in action while serving in the Israeli Border Patrol, were Arab. Muslim. Living in the ethnically divided town of Acre. Kind of breaks the convenient dichotomy of Jews vs. Arabs, Good vs. Bad (or vice versa if that's your poison), East vs. West etc. This stuff rarely hits CNN or the history books, but there's a lot of it round here, in the real world. Thousands of Bedouins and Druze, Christian Arabs as well as Muslim Arabs who risk their lives to defend the State of Israel, to defend home. Yes, there's always the black and white side of politics, but there's also the other side, this side, which really exists.
Acre today inhabits Jews and Christian and Muslim Arabs. It has lasted through the times of King David, Alexander the Great, Herod, the Mamluks, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, Napoleon and the British mandate. Some of that magnificent history comes together in the persona, tragic story of this woman.
[line]
Today Israel celebrates its Independence Day. The days are successive as a symbol of the strong bond – Independence would not have been attained or maintained without the sacrifice of those lost in defense of the country. It's a difficult switch to make, from mourning to rejoicing, but is seems natural and reflects on the reality we live in. This is basically national B-B-Q day, as the masses crowd the natural reservations, equipped with grills and lots and lots of (makes homer mumble: ) mmmmm…. meeeaat….
I was invited to a bar-b-q by one of my best friends, Bassem. Bassem is an Arab; some would call him an Israeli-Arab, some a Palestinian-Israeli (we're talking '48 borders, not the West-Bank). He lives in a neighboring town. Historically, most of the population of his town chooses not to serve in the IDF in direct correlation to that dichotomy of Israeli vs. Palestinian, it would easily seem (Arabs have the choice while it's a mandatory three year service for most Jews). But Basem himself is a policeman in the Israeli Police, he carries a gun that was issued to him by the State of Israel. Quite a few other inhabitants of his town do too. And he invited me to a bar-b-q on Israel's Independence Day. And above all, he is a genuine friend.
So may it not all be about hate? Not all about violence and "who started it?". I hope this "scoop" doesn't kill some of you…It seems all too easy to generalize, to bash one side (religion?) for oppression, to attack the other side (religion?) for hostility, but in some instances, mainly those which are well hid from the news, there are more than two sides. There's the other side. Some of you don't see it. Sadly, some seem to not want to see it.
But it's here.
Sex and violence – that definitely sells well. Why tell the boring stories of ordinary people, living their ordinary lives. Not sexy enough for history, not violent enough for the news. Once in a while, between fending off one accusation and making another, I try to squeeze in such an anecdote. Sorry, but pessimism and cynicism are pretty cheap around these parts of town. Reality may sometimes be little more precious and, well, just as real… Trying to bring some of that here.
[line]
Yesterday was Memorial Day in Israel. It's a day of mourning, when the majority of Israelis remember their loved ones who have fallen in battle. Many attend commemoration services held in all military cemeteries. Schools hold services in memory of their fallen alumni. Radio stations broadcast mellow music and relevant shows. It's a day filled with genuine sadness. I'm proud to say that despite the Israeli hot-bloodedness (hot-headedness?) there is no crumb of a hint of feelings such as aggression, retaliation, revenge in our form of mourning.
On my way to the service at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery (kind of our Arlington Cemetery) in Jerusalem I heard an interview on the radio with a woman who lost her husband, a sergeant in the IDF. So, what's interesting in that, you ask, it's just another story. True, only the woman, as well as her husband who was killed in action while serving in the Israeli Border Patrol, were Arab. Muslim. Living in the ethnically divided town of Acre. Kind of breaks the convenient dichotomy of Jews vs. Arabs, Good vs. Bad (or vice versa if that's your poison), East vs. West etc. This stuff rarely hits CNN or the history books, but there's a lot of it round here, in the real world. Thousands of Bedouins and Druze, Christian Arabs as well as Muslim Arabs who risk their lives to defend the State of Israel, to defend home. Yes, there's always the black and white side of politics, but there's also the other side, this side, which really exists.
Acre today inhabits Jews and Christian and Muslim Arabs. It has lasted through the times of King David, Alexander the Great, Herod, the Mamluks, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, Napoleon and the British mandate. Some of that magnificent history comes together in the persona, tragic story of this woman.
[line]
Today Israel celebrates its Independence Day. The days are successive as a symbol of the strong bond – Independence would not have been attained or maintained without the sacrifice of those lost in defense of the country. It's a difficult switch to make, from mourning to rejoicing, but is seems natural and reflects on the reality we live in. This is basically national B-B-Q day, as the masses crowd the natural reservations, equipped with grills and lots and lots of (makes homer mumble: ) mmmmm…. meeeaat….
I was invited to a bar-b-q by one of my best friends, Bassem. Bassem is an Arab; some would call him an Israeli-Arab, some a Palestinian-Israeli (we're talking '48 borders, not the West-Bank). He lives in a neighboring town. Historically, most of the population of his town chooses not to serve in the IDF in direct correlation to that dichotomy of Israeli vs. Palestinian, it would easily seem (Arabs have the choice while it's a mandatory three year service for most Jews). But Basem himself is a policeman in the Israeli Police, he carries a gun that was issued to him by the State of Israel. Quite a few other inhabitants of his town do too. And he invited me to a bar-b-q on Israel's Independence Day. And above all, he is a genuine friend.
So may it not all be about hate? Not all about violence and "who started it?". I hope this "scoop" doesn't kill some of you…It seems all too easy to generalize, to bash one side (religion?) for oppression, to attack the other side (religion?) for hostility, but in some instances, mainly those which are well hid from the news, there are more than two sides. There's the other side. Some of you don't see it. Sadly, some seem to not want to see it.
But it's here.