Monthly Archives: December 2011

Angry at America

27 Tuesday Dec 2011

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A beautiful spot for some ugly words

Mid-morning, December 26th, touring the Haram al-Sharif with visiting relatives: An older woman emerges from the Dome of the Rock and asks us where we are from. When we reply the United States, she shouts at us angrily, “All buildings in America burn! And Obama too!”

Mid-afternoon, December 26th, just outside the Old City: a man with an Israeli flag t-shirt and a clipboard approaches us, explaining that Jerusalem should be the eternal and undivided capital of the “indigenous” Jewish people. As part of his argument he claims, “Obama is pro-Islamist.”

Two angry people, both willing to express intense emotion to strangers. Both believe that the United States, to put it mildly, is pursuing the incorrect foreign policy in Israel/Palestine. Both personalized the argument, speaking about President Barak Obama.

Of course, there were also many differences. One spoke fluent English, having been born as he described it  “in exile in New York.” The other spoke halting English and was probably born within minutes’ walk of where we were speaking. One explicitly advocated violence (unless she was using metaphor). The other did not describe the methods he would use to remove the c. 200,000 residents of East Jerusalem that were not the “indigenous” Jewish population. One was part of some form of fundraising and advocacy movement; the other seemed to have no immediate goal other than expressing her opinion. One spoke in language calculated to be most appealing to his audience, the other could not have chosen a more worrying and hostile statement.

Texts and curricula that impede understanding

12 Monday Dec 2011

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Just a corner of the flood of Americana in Prof. Danjani's office

Entering Professor Mohammad Dajani’s office / library at Al Quds University is like being transported to Ohio – Oberlin, to be exact, where the professor takes a class each year. He is the head of the American Studies department, and his office and the halls around represent the good, the bad and the tacky of U.S. culture. Posters of bad movies compete for space with copies of the Constitution and newspaper reports of Kennedy’s assassination. The library has a wealth of books discussing the American scene, with it appears no topic omitted.

Professor Dajani is equally uncensored. He is the founder of Wasatia, a group encouraging moderation in Palestinian Muslim religious views, societal approaches, and political outlooks. In our conversation, he was quite critical of certain aspects of religious teaching – both in Palestine and in the broader Arab Muslim world. He cited the teaching of a Hadith that says that on Judgement Day Muslims will be called to kill Jews. This Hadith both contradicts the Qur’an and is one of thousands of Hadith – so why is it being taught, he challenges. He also gave the example of teaching verses that state that say only the followers of Islam are saved, good, etc. Why interpret this as meaning formal Muslims, when it can mean “those who submit to God”?

The evening of the day I visited Prof. Dajani it was the turn of Israeli textbooks – in this case history, geography and civics, not religion. Professor Nurit Peled-Elhanan has just published a book on bias in these texts, and some examples are startling. Also, unfortunately, they are not getting better. She noted that for a while in the ’90s the books did discuss the massacres of Palestinians during the 1948 war, though with a great deal of justification. Now they may not. Arabs (rarely is the word Palestinian used) are portrayed as backward and irrational. Maps do not show the green line, the wall, and show few Palestinian place names.

I’ll be interested to read more about both Israeli and Palestinian textbooks – I know that texts in the Arab world usually omit Israel, for example, and I’ve been hearing about the combination of nationalism and religious teaching in the Israeli curriculum.

Steven Pinker in Jerusalem

11 Sunday Dec 2011

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Steven Pinker is in favor of cosmopolitanism and opposed to religious prejudice, tribalism and nationalism. He sees international institutions like the U.N. as correlated with a decline in interstate warfare. He notes that women’s rights and the rights of minorities have resulted in a decline in violence against these groups. He does not advocate unilateral pacifism, and does have historical examples where weak states have suffered as a result. He does argue, however, that less insularity and greater democracy leads to less violence.

As I listened to Professor Pinker discuss his new book The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, I could not but think how his points apply to the current trends in Israeli politics and society. A rise in insularity? Check. Nationalism? Check. Anti-democratic legislation? Check. Hostility to international institutions? Check. Assaults on women’s rights? Check. Prejudice against a minority? Check. Tribal? Check.

International institutions like the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel are on the side of the angels, according to Pinker. The Israeli government does not agree.

And yet, when asked the question “What about Israel?” he interpreted the question as meaning, “Isn’t the threat to Israel a counterexample to the trend of declining violence?” (He responded that in fact the Arab-Israeli conflict has been far less bloody than many, and the last war Israel fought against another state was in 1973, consistent with his hypothesis.) His only reference to the Palestinians was in the context of making a point that terrorism almost always fails to attain its stated political goals. He also pointed out that the Arab world has failed to reduce violence to the extent of much of the rest of the world, though he sees hopeful signs of that changing. All these points are absolutely legitimate, but I was interested that he either did not hear or chose not to articulate the lessons for Israeli politics inherent in the case he was making.

I love hearing Prof. Pinker speak, and I am excited to read his book. I also think that the lessons for Palestinian politics are legion. Indeed, Hamas is on the wrong side of pretty much every one of the trends that lead to a decline in violence. Still, I would have liked to have heard Prof. Pinker comment on ethnocentrism and dehumanization of the other in the context of the Netanyahu coalition, settlers shooting their neighbors, and the “price tag” attacks. His book sounds to my ears like an extended critique of many current Israeli policies, and I’m surprised he chose not to make that point.

Where is the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem?

05 Monday Dec 2011

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For those of you who are looking for the American Consulate in Jerusalem, or already know how to get there but are preparing for your visit, here is a letter with some ideas I just sent to the Consulate. I had a great experience and encountered a few bumps I thought they might be able to smooth out. FYI, they wrote me back immediately with an extremely helpful response – I’m impressed!

Photo credit: Rahel Sharon Jaskow, Elms in the Yard (http://elmsintheyard.blogspot.com)

To the consular team, especially U.S. Citizen services,

I just applied for a second valid passport at the Consulate, and I want to compliment you on a highly professional and kind staff. I wish I’d caught the name of the man who helped me (perhaps in his 30s or 40s, native Arabic speaker, funny and chatty.) Indeed, everyone working at the Consulate this morning helped the process move along well and kept things upbeat.

Your system of getting an online appointment helps pace the crowds well – thank you. Regarding directions, I appreciate your putting a Google Maps link up – extremely helpful, since Google Maps has not yet identified “14 David Flusser” street.

Here are several suggestions to make the process go even more smoothly.

1. In addition to the google maps link, a bit of narrative would help. I came by foot, and it would have helped to know the following:

“From the west by foot or taxi, go to the corner where Klausner, Yam Hamelach and Kfar Etsyon intersect. Here there is a pedestrian path down to the Consulate.”

2. Also, that path is currently marked “For visitors to the Diplomat Hotel only.” Please change that to a sign telling people that down this path is the Consulate.

3. Thank you to the guards for providing places to check small items. Currently your website says “Sealed envelopes cannot be brought into the Consulate. Additionally, please also do not bring cameras, mobile phones or any other electronic devices, such as Blackberries, iPods, PDAs or remote-entry automobile key “fobs” to the interview as they are not allowed in the Consulate. We cannot held responsible for lost or missing items that are checked with security.” Perhaps change this to “Sealed envelopes cannot be brought into the Consulate. You may check small electronic items such as cameras, mobile phones or any other electronic devices, such as Blackberries, iPods, PDAs or remote-entry automobile key ‘fobs’ with security as they are not allowed in the Consulate. Note, though, that we cannot held responsible for lost or missing items that are checked with security.” Cell phones are now ubiquitous and for many it would take special arrangements to leave them behind.

4. Finally, I noticed that there is the technology for taking a number and having that number called, but it was not activated. Perhaps activate the system, which would allow people to sit or play with their children while waiting.

Once again, I appreciate your hard work in providing well thought-through, caring and professional citizen services. As someone living here for the year, I appreciate all my government does to make my visit possible.

Sincerely,

Terence Gilheany

Teacher, St. Andrew’s School, Delaware, USA – http://goo.gl/kyMgu
Fulbright Distinguished Teacher 2011-12 – http://goo.gl/4L6q9
Blog – tgilheany.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/tfgilheany
Twitter – tfgilheany

Maintaining boundaries

03 Saturday Dec 2011

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Thanks to my friend Professor Derik Fay, I recently met with Professor Amalia Sa’ar of the University of Haifa. As we discussed the tendency of schools in Israel and Palestine to teach children only about their own religious tradition, she made an interesting point. She suggested that religion in the curriculum here was not so much about faith, character, ethics or education as it is about boundary maintenance. As the term suggests, boundary maintenance in sociology means “the ways in which societies (or social systems) maintain distinctions between themselves and others”. I’ve thought before, and interviewees have commented upon, how teaching one’s own religion seeks to help a culture retain its cohesion. I have thought, however, that this does not explain failing to teach other religions. Boundary maintenance is a helpful frame in which to think about this tendency.

Oh no! Not that guy!

Recently the Israeli government attempted such boundary maintenance in a particularly unsubtle way. It aired commercials in U.S. markets seeking to get Israelis living in the States to return to Israel. The most egregious ad uses the tagline “Before Hannukah turns into Christmas, it is time to come back to Israel.” Apparently U.S. Jewish groups were not enamored of the ads, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered them pulled off the air. The Atlantic blogger Jeffery Goldberg echoes my thoughts when he writes, “I understand the impulse behind them: Israel wants as many of its citizens as possible to live in Israel. This is not an abnormal desire. But the way it is expressed, in wholly negative terms, is somewhat appalling. How about, ‘Hey, come back to Israel, because our unemployment rate is half that of the U.S.’s’? Or, ‘It’s always sunny in Israel’? Or, ‘Hey, Shmulik, your mother misses you’?”

Boundary maintenance rises when groups feel threatened, which leads to an interesting chicken-and-egg problem. People who are working hard to defend their identity won’t seek to learn about other religions, and continued ignorance of the other will support their defensive stance. Still, there are a variety of forces at work in any decision to learn something. I’ll need to think and learn more about the factors that help people relax their boundaries.