An Article by my son, Rashid.
More Talking-Back (Part II: Post-Peace Cafe)
July 17th, 2007 · 2 Comments
We move from the religious response to a Palestinian-American response to Pangs. Rashid is an excellent journalist and has been a pillar in our Peace Discussion community for six years. He attended the performances of My Name is Rachel Corrie and 1001, participated and spoke publicly at the Peace Discussion there under the tent, and then came to the Jewish Community Center to see Pangs of the Messiah last Thursday night. Here’s his email which speaks quite eloquently for itself.
Dear Ari,Thank you so much for inviting me to the play and the discussion afterwards. This whole past week was very enjoyable as well as educational. The key point I learned from the Peace Discussion after My Name is Rachel Corrie and with it the criticism that the play doesn’t represent in any way the Israeli point of view in the conflict is that art is not balanced. This lesson served me well as I watched Pangs of the Messiah.
If I had seen the play a month ago I would have complained at least to myself “why don’t we hear from the Palestinians who live in the village just beneath the house on stage?” A village, by the way, that looks very much like my father’s, which is encircled by two settlements. However, thanks to the discussion on Sunday, I focused on the people on the stage and found myself somewhat sympathetic to a few of the characters. And I think this demonstrates the strength of the play and its actors.
Remember, a thousand dunums of the three thousand dunums (a dunum is about a quarter of an acre) that my grandfather worked very hard to buy was grabbed by settlers just like the people in the play. Keep Reading. They built two settlements on that land with beautiful villas, new roads and giant searchlights that deny the night sky to villagers. These same people take pot shots at anyone from the village that venture a half a mile near the settlement, they burn our forests, the very trees which my grandfather planted and they release wild hogs as an insult to the Muslims down below and in the hopes that the hogs will destroy the villagers’ gardens. They tortured and killed my cousin, gauging his eyes out while he was still alive and then dumped his body under his house where his 12-year-old daughter found him the next morning.
So to say the least, it is somewhat amazing that I could feel anything for these people. In the end, I have to say that if there is to be a two state solution to this struggle, those settlements in the heart of the West Bank will have to be removed. Unfortunately, for Israel, the Palestinians and the world we are far from any chance of this occurring and are faced with more years of pain for everyone involved.
As far as the Peace Discussion after the play, I made many new friends, being the only Arab-American in the crowd, and have been asked to speak at a local synagogue. The lady who invited me thought that it was very important that American Jews have contact with rational, articulate Arab Americans (her words not mine) in order to better understand who is on the other side of the issue. I had a run in with one fellow at the Peace Discussion, but I think he would have trouble with his local grocer over the price of watermelons. Sadly he does not know how to take a breath and just listen.
Thank you again for a great evening, please invite me again.
Rashid
More Talking-Back (Part II: Post-Peace Cafe)
July 17th, 2007 · 2 Comments
We move from the religious response to a Palestinian-American response to Pangs. Rashid is an excellent journalist and has been a pillar in our Peace Discussion community for six years. He attended the performances of My Name is Rachel Corrie and 1001, participated and spoke publicly at the Peace Discussion there under the tent, and then came to the Jewish Community Center to see Pangs of the Messiah last Thursday night. Here’s his email which speaks quite eloquently for itself.
Dear Ari,Thank you so much for inviting me to the play and the discussion afterwards. This whole past week was very enjoyable as well as educational. The key point I learned from the Peace Discussion after My Name is Rachel Corrie and with it the criticism that the play doesn’t represent in any way the Israeli point of view in the conflict is that art is not balanced. This lesson served me well as I watched Pangs of the Messiah.
If I had seen the play a month ago I would have complained at least to myself “why don’t we hear from the Palestinians who live in the village just beneath the house on stage?” A village, by the way, that looks very much like my father’s, which is encircled by two settlements. However, thanks to the discussion on Sunday, I focused on the people on the stage and found myself somewhat sympathetic to a few of the characters. And I think this demonstrates the strength of the play and its actors.
Remember, a thousand dunums of the three thousand dunums (a dunum is about a quarter of an acre) that my grandfather worked very hard to buy was grabbed by settlers just like the people in the play. Keep Reading. They built two settlements on that land with beautiful villas, new roads and giant searchlights that deny the night sky to villagers. These same people take pot shots at anyone from the village that venture a half a mile near the settlement, they burn our forests, the very trees which my grandfather planted and they release wild hogs as an insult to the Muslims down below and in the hopes that the hogs will destroy the villagers’ gardens. They tortured and killed my cousin, gauging his eyes out while he was still alive and then dumped his body under his house where his 12-year-old daughter found him the next morning.
So to say the least, it is somewhat amazing that I could feel anything for these people. In the end, I have to say that if there is to be a two state solution to this struggle, those settlements in the heart of the West Bank will have to be removed. Unfortunately, for Israel, the Palestinians and the world we are far from any chance of this occurring and are faced with more years of pain for everyone involved.
As far as the Peace Discussion after the play, I made many new friends, being the only Arab-American in the crowd, and have been asked to speak at a local synagogue. The lady who invited me thought that it was very important that American Jews have contact with rational, articulate Arab Americans (her words not mine) in order to better understand who is on the other side of the issue. I had a run in with one fellow at the Peace Discussion, but I think he would have trouble with his local grocer over the price of watermelons. Sadly he does not know how to take a breath and just listen.
Thank you again for a great evening, please invite me again.
Rashid
Labels: Jewish settlements, My Name is Rachel Corrie, West Bank
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