Love is in the air. Well, not exactly love, but a lot of sex, and not exactly in the air but in the foliage. Every time we look outside the cats have taken to the trees, fornicating on some precarious branch. We thought it might be the Ramallah style of spring fever but it is probably just because our dog Leila(1) has now commanded the lower level of our yard. They sure make a lot of racket as well. I know cats are pretty noisy whilst in the act, but it could also be because they are nervous about falling out of the tree, dropping to the earth in the middle of what seems to be a fairly traumatizing event.
As for Leila, she has become a microcosm of one aspect of the situation here, the Palestinian refugee who just can’t seem to catch a break. We have trotted her out to many an adoption occasion, only to have her efforts summarily rejected. Actually, she was more ignored than rejected, which was probably more painful for us than for her. One day however, as we were enjoying an outdoor café in Jerusalem (guiltily transgressing our BDS(2) position we have been trying to hold since Gaza) a nice outdoorsy looking guy named Mark stopped to pet her. Pleased (and desperate) that he was showing such interest in her, we laid on the sob story of how we rescued her from a life on the streets, but were unable to keep her because we were travelling bohemians with no real fixed address. We omitted her ethnicity, not wanting to risk shutting down his interest before her charms would surely win him over. In any case, she was charming enough to get an invite to his house to meet Pokey, his 12-year old dog who he thought needed a companion. So the next weekend, we brought Leila over to Mark’s house in Baka, a beautiful area of Jerusalem, full of old ‘Arab’ homes. Mark was a new import to Israel, having left California and some mysterious tech business to make Aliyah(3) about 6 months ago. Elle and I had a little talk before this visit, and decided that what was most important was that Leila find a good home, even if it was a politically incorrect one. So we took a deep breath and drank tea in Mark’s vaulted kitchen admiring the arches and stone floors while the dogs acquainted themselves outdoors. It was only when Mark started talking about a certain ‘Arab mentality in the Middle East’ which he found difficult that I saw the thought-bubble emerge out of Elle’s head: “That’s it! No racist home for Leila!” I gave her the ‘keep-your-mouth-shut-glare’. After all, wasn’t it better that Leila stay in her country, than ‘voluntarily-transfer’ to Canada? Besides, I kind of liked the idea that she would be in fact reclaiming an old Palestinian home. The other thing is, Leila herself is really not all that political. She seemed to have no issues with Pokey and was pretty happy running around Mark’s spacious backyard. In any case, whether it was our stony silence, Elle’s subsequent comments about his ‘Palestinian home’ (couldn’t help it….) or the fact that Pokey seemed irritated with Leila, Mark decided Leila just wasn’t for him.
Perhaps it was for the best. Leila now has her bags packed for Canada, rabies certificate in paw, and we no longer have to decide what level of Israel is acceptable for a Palestinian dog. It is ridiculous for sure, but ridiculous is everywhere. This past week one friend left Ramallah and one came to visit: both Jewish, both anti-Zionist, both career activists and even both lesbians. One is Israeli, one American. The American refuses to visit Israel, in fact, she refuses to recognize Israel and refers to it as ‘48’, spending all her time in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli, doesn’t spend any time in the Occupied Territories, but to be fair, is not allowed to. Yet she did come to visit us in Ramallah, but only stayed for a few hours practically refusing to leave our apartment for reasons of guilt, shame and fear. Two women fighting for the same cause yet will probably never meet except for maybe at some feminist peace conference in another country. This is when it gets really depressing. If these two Jewish lesbian anti-Zionists(4) don’t even cross paths, what hope is there for the rest?
The cats are yowling again. I try not to imagine them enduring the season of the tomcat. Now soft and fat from the cat food we bring from Israel to feed them, I hope they can still make it up and down those trees. Maybe they are just hungry. I’ll go check.
Footnotes
1. We named her based on the epic Arabic love poem of Qays and Leila, lovers who were forbidden to marry and then went crazy. The term, ‘Majnoon Leila’ (crazy Leila) came out of this story, the precursor to Romeo and Juliet.
2. BDS: Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions
3. 'Aliyah' is widely regarded as an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundamental concept of Zionism that is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return, which accords any Jew and eligible non-Jews with immediate Jewish relatives, the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as automatic Israeli citizenship (from Wikipedia). The term ‘to make Aliyah’ describes this process of returning to Israel.
4. Again, if I may quote from Wikipedia: Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism, the international Jewish political movement that established a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine and continues to support the state of Israel. Opposition to Zionism has changed over time and has taken on a spectrum of religious, ethical, political or military forms. Some include, opposition to the creation of a Jewish state prior to the appearance of the messiah, objection to the idea of a state based on maintenance of a Jewish majority, differing democratic values and differing dimensions or rejection of Israel's right to exist in any form. The legitimacy of anti-Zionist views has been disputed into the present day, along with the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Some commentators argue that anti-Zionism represents fair opposition to Israel or its policies, particularly in the occupied territories. Others contend that to the extent anti-Zionism represents an opposition even to Israel's existence, it is inherently antisemitic. In this context, and admittedly oversimplifying, I am referring to those who believe in a one-state solution for Israel-Palestine.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Dog Days
Reem asks us to help her buy some Orange SIM cards for her colleague in Gaza because he is sure the Jawwal towers will be bombed and Gazans will have no way of calling out. Jawwal is the Palestinian cell phone provider and Orange is the Israeli.
Chelsey arrives on her Birthright(1) trip just after the attack on Gaza. She asks her tour guide what is happening in Gaza. He tells her not to worry about it.
We are glued to Al Jazeera like everyone else, watching the carnage, the inept Arab leaders, the lying Israeli officials and keeping track of the death toll.
Together with Dunya(2), we decide to project images of Gaza with the word ‘SHAME’ in English and Hebrew. Dunya gets a projector, but we need a way of powering our projector from the car. We do some research and realize we need an ‘inverter’, a device which gives us an electrical outlet off the car battery.
Our puppy needs a home and we won’t give her to someone who will keep her outside. This rules out a Palestinian home for her so we drive to Tel Aviv where they have an animal adoption day. Hopefully we can find an inverter as well. We find one at the Home Depot. We are ready to project. Still have the dog.
We are not ready to project. The cables are too short. Nobody seems to have these cables in Ramallah. We drive to Tel Aviv for another adoption day where we sit with 100 dogs who need homes. Nobody even looks at her. We decide the dog has been racially profiled and leave. We are too late to get to the Home Depot but find an auto body shop outside Qalandia where they make the cables out of some old wire for us. We are ready to project.
I spend a day with Dunya on the tour she is giving to students from Boston College studying social justice. We drive to a Bedouin village nestled in between a hydroelectric plant and a chemical factory. Despite the power plant in their backyard, they have no electricity themselves, but a lot of cancer. We spend the day visiting ‘unrecognized villages’ and ‘concentration townships’. At lunch the 3 students ask Dunya whether they are allowed to buy drinks which are Israeli. I look down at my bottled water. There are no other drinks so it is okay.
The PA(3) hits protestors in Ramallah with teargas for a show of support for Hamas.
Our equipment now working, we drive to Jerusalem to project our images from a hotel window. We are too far from the wall we are projecting on and our projected ‘Shame’ disappears into darkness.
We are having coffee with our friend Sonia when she gets a call. It is someone from Libya who called her number randomly just to make contact with Palestinians. Apparently people from throughout the Arab world have been calling Jawwal cell phone numbers to show support.
We drive to Gaza to see where we will be stopped. Police barricades well before the Erez crossing stop us. At a gas station we see smoke rising in the distance. Soldiers tell us we are not allowed to take pictures of Gaza which we ignore. We drive south along the Gaza strip and end up where the press is lined up, viewing Gaza from miles away, green pastures in front, the dull thud of shelling in the background.
Having breakfast with Dunya, Chelsey and Huda when Reem calls. She wants to come over because she is upset. Her colleague in Gaza has called her to tell her the Israelis are in tanks outside his window. He thinks he will die.
The dog is facilitating smooth passage through the checkpoints. I’ve never seen Israelis soldiers be so friendly at Qalandia.
The Bank of Palestine across the street closes for the afternoon for an employee demonstration against the situation in Gaza. Huda calls me to take pictures of her niece who works there.
We drive around Jerusalem looking for a spot to project our ‘Shame’ slideshow. We find a spot on a busy freeway. After three minutes, two young guys cross the street to yell at us and spit on our car.
A UN school is bombed in Gaza. Then the hospital. Mark Regev, Israeli spokesman, questions whether Israel was responsible.
We give up on trying to find a home for the dog here. We are sending her to Canada with Chelsey when she leaves. She just needs her shots.
We stage another projection in Jerusalem. This time a very angry elderly man rips the projector cords out of the car. Elle gets called ‘a piece of shit’ and that she ‘probably goes with Arabs’. I only get called a bitch but it sounds much worse in Hebrew.
We spend the evening packing up boxes of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza. Amongst the diaper, baby wipes and toothbrushes is a 2 litre bottle of Dettol still warm from the factory.
Nearly 1200 deaths and over 3000 casualties. Unilateral ceasefire is declared by Israel. Olmert says that if so much as one rocket is launched they will resume. He also says he is sorry for the civilian deaths but they did the best they could to only target Hamas. 400 children are dead.
Footnotes
1) 'Birthright' is a tour for diasporic Jewish youth funded by philanthropists and the Israeli government to encourage interest and support for Israel.
2) Dunya Alwan, our new American friend from upstairs, runs 'Birthright Unplugged' - the alternative narrative to 'Birthright', touring the Occupied Territories.
3) Palestinian Authority
Chelsey arrives on her Birthright(1) trip just after the attack on Gaza. She asks her tour guide what is happening in Gaza. He tells her not to worry about it.
We are glued to Al Jazeera like everyone else, watching the carnage, the inept Arab leaders, the lying Israeli officials and keeping track of the death toll.
Together with Dunya(2), we decide to project images of Gaza with the word ‘SHAME’ in English and Hebrew. Dunya gets a projector, but we need a way of powering our projector from the car. We do some research and realize we need an ‘inverter’, a device which gives us an electrical outlet off the car battery.
Our puppy needs a home and we won’t give her to someone who will keep her outside. This rules out a Palestinian home for her so we drive to Tel Aviv where they have an animal adoption day. Hopefully we can find an inverter as well. We find one at the Home Depot. We are ready to project. Still have the dog.
We are not ready to project. The cables are too short. Nobody seems to have these cables in Ramallah. We drive to Tel Aviv for another adoption day where we sit with 100 dogs who need homes. Nobody even looks at her. We decide the dog has been racially profiled and leave. We are too late to get to the Home Depot but find an auto body shop outside Qalandia where they make the cables out of some old wire for us. We are ready to project.
I spend a day with Dunya on the tour she is giving to students from Boston College studying social justice. We drive to a Bedouin village nestled in between a hydroelectric plant and a chemical factory. Despite the power plant in their backyard, they have no electricity themselves, but a lot of cancer. We spend the day visiting ‘unrecognized villages’ and ‘concentration townships’. At lunch the 3 students ask Dunya whether they are allowed to buy drinks which are Israeli. I look down at my bottled water. There are no other drinks so it is okay.
The PA(3) hits protestors in Ramallah with teargas for a show of support for Hamas.
Our equipment now working, we drive to Jerusalem to project our images from a hotel window. We are too far from the wall we are projecting on and our projected ‘Shame’ disappears into darkness.
We are having coffee with our friend Sonia when she gets a call. It is someone from Libya who called her number randomly just to make contact with Palestinians. Apparently people from throughout the Arab world have been calling Jawwal cell phone numbers to show support.
We drive to Gaza to see where we will be stopped. Police barricades well before the Erez crossing stop us. At a gas station we see smoke rising in the distance. Soldiers tell us we are not allowed to take pictures of Gaza which we ignore. We drive south along the Gaza strip and end up where the press is lined up, viewing Gaza from miles away, green pastures in front, the dull thud of shelling in the background.
Having breakfast with Dunya, Chelsey and Huda when Reem calls. She wants to come over because she is upset. Her colleague in Gaza has called her to tell her the Israelis are in tanks outside his window. He thinks he will die.
The dog is facilitating smooth passage through the checkpoints. I’ve never seen Israelis soldiers be so friendly at Qalandia.
The Bank of Palestine across the street closes for the afternoon for an employee demonstration against the situation in Gaza. Huda calls me to take pictures of her niece who works there.
We drive around Jerusalem looking for a spot to project our ‘Shame’ slideshow. We find a spot on a busy freeway. After three minutes, two young guys cross the street to yell at us and spit on our car.
A UN school is bombed in Gaza. Then the hospital. Mark Regev, Israeli spokesman, questions whether Israel was responsible.
We give up on trying to find a home for the dog here. We are sending her to Canada with Chelsey when she leaves. She just needs her shots.
We stage another projection in Jerusalem. This time a very angry elderly man rips the projector cords out of the car. Elle gets called ‘a piece of shit’ and that she ‘probably goes with Arabs’. I only get called a bitch but it sounds much worse in Hebrew.
We spend the evening packing up boxes of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza. Amongst the diaper, baby wipes and toothbrushes is a 2 litre bottle of Dettol still warm from the factory.
Nearly 1200 deaths and over 3000 casualties. Unilateral ceasefire is declared by Israel. Olmert says that if so much as one rocket is launched they will resume. He also says he is sorry for the civilian deaths but they did the best they could to only target Hamas. 400 children are dead.
Footnotes
1) 'Birthright' is a tour for diasporic Jewish youth funded by philanthropists and the Israeli government to encourage interest and support for Israel.
2) Dunya Alwan, our new American friend from upstairs, runs 'Birthright Unplugged' - the alternative narrative to 'Birthright', touring the Occupied Territories.
3) Palestinian Authority
Monday, January 5, 2009
Gaza
As most of you know, the attack on Gaza started last Saturday. We were sitting in a café at the time, meeting a well-known Palestinian poet, Ghassan Zaqtan, when he got the news on his phone that the Israelis had bombed Gaza. Needless to say, our meeting with him was cut short. On our way home to check the news, the demonstrations in Al Manara had started and people started to gather in the streets. We had just heard from Neta about the conditions in Gaza before the attack, how the siege had taken its toll on the population and how dire the humanitarian crisis was. The siege was bad enough, but to hear of the scale of attack and that Israel planned to continue, was unbelievable. And have they ever. Last night we were at a demonstration in Tel Aviv when they announced that the ground invasion had begun. Despite the news, and the right-wing nationalists who were protesting our protest, it remained non-violent. It may have had something to do with the hundreds of police officers standing between them and us.
The po-po is everywhere these days, in both Israel and Palestine. We have been to many demonstrations in Ramallah in the past week, kept in control by the Palestinian police and army. Of course that in such a potentially explosive situation there would be, yet we have also seen army gathering in front of our house and riot police by the Muqata, lying in wait for a potential outbreak. The official explanation we were given was that they were protecting their people from the Israelis, yet the Israelis are not in Ramallah. The more likely reason is the PA, controlled by Fatah, is intent on quashing any visible support for Hamas. We have heard from friends how if anyone at these demonstrations raises a Hamas flag, it will be ripped out of their hands. Considering the first statement by Abbas after the airstrikes was to condemn Hamas for bringing this on themselves, this is not surprising. The other reason lurking in everyone’s mind is that Fatah is collaborating with the Israelis, and keeping everything under control in the West Bank while the Israelis beat-up Hamas (and everyone else who happens to get in the way). While he claims he ‘will not ride into Gaza on an Israeli tank’, who will fill the void if Hamas is destroyed? The one statement from Israel on this invasion that I do believe is that they don’t want to re-occupy Gaza. Who wants to be in charge of all those troublesome and expensive Palestinians again?
As you can imagine, the mood around here on New Year’s was less than celebratory. We attended a candlelight vigil at Al Manara, and for the first time, encountered a bit of hostility. “Why are you here? Who is the real terrorist?” a man asked us. When we apparently answered his questions correctly, he then tried to befriend us, but this was not the ‘Welcome, welcome” we were used to. But in addition to being angry, people are depressed. Cut off from Gaza, controlled by the PA and the Israelis, they feel helpless. But beyond their anger and rage at the Israeli attack, the Palestinians are disgusted with the rest of the Arab world who have completely abandoned them (again). As the Arab states schedule their meetings, and the UN debates the wording of their ceasefire statement (to be rejected by the US again), the tanks are rolling in and the airstrikes continue.
I don’t need to give you my list of top 10 statements by Livni, Barak, Olmert and Peres (although I think “there is no humanitarian crisis” wins) because I’m sure you have heard these campaign slogans on the news. Elle has written a great piece on the injustice of this attack on Gaza (see http://landed-graphicpictures.blogspot.com). In the meantime, we have been trying to adjust to the new reality around here, which is still a bit of an unknown. As I have mentioned to all that are worried about us, Ramallah has been very calm and we are for the most part, ensconced in our apartment planning some kind of guerrilla-girls propaganda piece, or watching the television at Huda’s while she prepares our next meal.
Simultaneously, it was Elle’s birthday (change of plans), Elle’s beloved dog Sigmund was put down (haram….), our friend Chelsey arrived and is in the middle of her Birthright tour nightmare, and, we rescued another animal (puppy headed for the trunk of a car). We are trying to find a home for this sweet little mutt but so far, no luck….not exactly the best time. We thought of advertising her as a refugee from Gaza who made a dash for the door when the tanks rolled in. Any takers?
The po-po is everywhere these days, in both Israel and Palestine. We have been to many demonstrations in Ramallah in the past week, kept in control by the Palestinian police and army. Of course that in such a potentially explosive situation there would be, yet we have also seen army gathering in front of our house and riot police by the Muqata, lying in wait for a potential outbreak. The official explanation we were given was that they were protecting their people from the Israelis, yet the Israelis are not in Ramallah. The more likely reason is the PA, controlled by Fatah, is intent on quashing any visible support for Hamas. We have heard from friends how if anyone at these demonstrations raises a Hamas flag, it will be ripped out of their hands. Considering the first statement by Abbas after the airstrikes was to condemn Hamas for bringing this on themselves, this is not surprising. The other reason lurking in everyone’s mind is that Fatah is collaborating with the Israelis, and keeping everything under control in the West Bank while the Israelis beat-up Hamas (and everyone else who happens to get in the way). While he claims he ‘will not ride into Gaza on an Israeli tank’, who will fill the void if Hamas is destroyed? The one statement from Israel on this invasion that I do believe is that they don’t want to re-occupy Gaza. Who wants to be in charge of all those troublesome and expensive Palestinians again?
As you can imagine, the mood around here on New Year’s was less than celebratory. We attended a candlelight vigil at Al Manara, and for the first time, encountered a bit of hostility. “Why are you here? Who is the real terrorist?” a man asked us. When we apparently answered his questions correctly, he then tried to befriend us, but this was not the ‘Welcome, welcome” we were used to. But in addition to being angry, people are depressed. Cut off from Gaza, controlled by the PA and the Israelis, they feel helpless. But beyond their anger and rage at the Israeli attack, the Palestinians are disgusted with the rest of the Arab world who have completely abandoned them (again). As the Arab states schedule their meetings, and the UN debates the wording of their ceasefire statement (to be rejected by the US again), the tanks are rolling in and the airstrikes continue.
I don’t need to give you my list of top 10 statements by Livni, Barak, Olmert and Peres (although I think “there is no humanitarian crisis” wins) because I’m sure you have heard these campaign slogans on the news. Elle has written a great piece on the injustice of this attack on Gaza (see http://landed-graphicpictures.blogspot.com). In the meantime, we have been trying to adjust to the new reality around here, which is still a bit of an unknown. As I have mentioned to all that are worried about us, Ramallah has been very calm and we are for the most part, ensconced in our apartment planning some kind of guerrilla-girls propaganda piece, or watching the television at Huda’s while she prepares our next meal.
Simultaneously, it was Elle’s birthday (change of plans), Elle’s beloved dog Sigmund was put down (haram….), our friend Chelsey arrived and is in the middle of her Birthright tour nightmare, and, we rescued another animal (puppy headed for the trunk of a car). We are trying to find a home for this sweet little mutt but so far, no luck….not exactly the best time. We thought of advertising her as a refugee from Gaza who made a dash for the door when the tanks rolled in. Any takers?
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