I really shouldn't be blogging on a Friday with so much work to do so I'll make this brief (my epic blog on my best 10 concert experiences ever will have to wait... ;-(
My only point today is that people that don't live in Israel and don't understand the complexity of the situation here and Jewish-Arab/Muslim dynamics shouldn't express strong political opinions one way or another. I have had only positive interactions with Arab residents of this city since moving here almost 6 years ago. The just-ended World Cup only served to highlight that. I had many 'football'-related conversations with passersby, cabbies, gas station attendants, people out strolling on the local promenade overlooking the old city, mostly with arabs. They were all pleasant and fun - Arabs take their football very seriously.
It was capped with my going to watch the final this past Sunday with my friend David over at his work, JVP. I ran into the former editor in chief of Seeking Alpha there with his son (what up Mick?!) - he works there now and sat in the row behind us. Directly in front of him was an old ulpan buddy of mine named Wahid, an Arab E. Jerusalemite. He does some freelance work for JVP and lives nearby in Abu Tor - a mixed Arab-Jewish neighborhood nearby. The ulpan I attended in early 2006 was mixed about 50/50 between Jewish immigrants and E. Jerusalemite Arabs looking to improve their Hebrew for university. Wahid and I always hit it oof and Sunday night was no exception. He seemed genuinely excited to have run into me and spoke very highly of me to his friend he was there with (also Arab). He's a huge football nut (of course) and a generally very affable guy who spends much of his time working with Jews. We agreed to hopefully meet up again sometime soon (I'm leaving to NYC for a month in 3 days).
I write all this because the general perception among both the left and the right living outside this country is that all (or the vast majority of) Arabs living in Israel hate Jews. For the left, it is because of the original sin of Jewish resettlement in this place, only exacerbated by 43 years of settler activity. For the right, it is offered as 'proof' there will never be peace here so damn all Arab Israelis, let's just dig in deeper to our bunkers, because even if an Arab seems nice, he's really just trying to kill us. Living here daily, the reality is infinitely more complex. Oppinionated outsiders, please take note.
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3 comments:
Well said, Yoni!
I would agree with you that there are Arabs out there who seem well intentioned and pleasing. To assume everybody feels the same way about us Jews and the conflict is silly. Still people hate what they fear, as well as fear what they hate. In a perfect world it would make obvious sense to trust everyone. Still I think you would agree that trust is earned. People as a group need to be held responsible for their actions and the actions of their leaders. On an individual level one can choose to trust or choose to be distant in relation to the Arabs amongst us. Both ways are understandable. How one feels about the situation is their right, whether they are down with your Arab buddies or not.
Agreed - very carefully worded Mike - I'm impressed ;-) As a group I'd have to agree that the Pals - especially those living in Gaza and the West Bank - have yet to earn this collective trust you speak of making an immediate peace deal a tough pill for most Israelis to currently swallow. Still, if we're to ever get to a point where we can live in mutual respect, or at least without mutual antipathy, I think we need to foster whatever relationships with the 'other' we can. If we each do our small part (on both sides), we can move to that ultimate point slowly and surely.
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