December 15, 2010
It's Wednesday today. I woke up at 8AM to a beautiful day. It's sunny and warm, and so fresh. Trained a bit, and then off to School. I was just getting started working on a translation when Fatin came in and called me out to join them for a coffee. Arabic coffee. Known as Turkish coffee, in Turkey. :) It was me, Halim, Yael, and Fatin.
I had an interesting, and informative chat with Yael and Halim. A little bit of Turkey first, and then eventually we started on issues of Israel - Palestine, and Israel in general. We talked about how the occupation of Palestine should end, however the Palestinian authorities (meaning Fatah) is not being clever with their politics, that it is pointless to demand an end to the settlements in order to start the peace process. Having a fundamentalist approach, it is believed by some people that Netanyahu government essentially does not seem to want an independent Palestinian State. They see the Palestinian land as part of greater Israel, and they're fine with an autonomous Palestinian community. Therefore Palestinian authorities should act wiser than this and do not involve the issue of settlements into the peace talks and say, "All right, let's start the talks, let's talk about the borders and then we'll get into the settlements as well." Halim reminds us that the demands regarding the settlements have started with Obama, before that the Palestinian authority did not put it as a mandatory requirement to start the peace talks. Some people think that Abbas is taking advantage of this U.S. demand since the U.S. is expected to back them up on this, and also to show the world (and perhaps the supporters of Hamas) that he can defy or challenge Israel as well. This is considered unnecessary, and I tend to agree with the idea.
We also talked about Fatah's efforts of disarming the people in the West Bank and how they're committed to do that. In this regard, it is possible to see the wall as absurd. Although it did make it harder to transfer things from one side to the other, a person can persevere his/her way into the other side. Making and sending bombs to Israel can easily be managed from West Bank, as it is from Gazza, despite the wall. As many people know here, thousands of Palestinians coming and going to and from Israel every day.
We agreed upon the noncommittal, insincere involvement of the Arab world when it comes to Palestinian resistance, and peace-building between Jews and Arabs. I think, the support that the Jewish communities have been giving to Israel had never had a counterpart in the Arab world towards Palestinians.
On to the privatization in Israel. Yael and Halim told me about the gas rigs on the coast of Israel. The drilling job was given to a private company and now there's issues between the company and the citizens who are protesting against the company being the largest beneficiary of the gas. Another problem, a much serious one, if you will, is challenging not just Israel's but Palestine's and Jordan's natural habitat. Well, actually the Dead Sea. Jordan and Israel had two private companies sucking the minerals out of the Dead Sea which created two dead seas now because there appeared a clod, a piece of land in the middle of the sea that makes it look like two separate bodies of water. Some people believe that Palestine would do the same, make a private owner do the job, if it could. It is sad. The natural habitat, the plant life and the animals are in great danger there. Therefore the works of the organizations such as the Friends of the Earth are very important. They have several offices within Israel, and also Palestine.
After this long coffee break, Halim took me to the Communication and PR building to introduce me to Howard Shippin. Howard wasn't there but I met other people including Abdessalam Najjar, one of the earliest members of NSWAS, member of the Communication and Dev. Office and the Pluralistic Spiritual Center. We had such a short talk but I really liked him and will try to visit him again for a longer chat. Comm Center is right next to the half Olympic swimming pool. (Unfortunately it's closed until summer.) There we came across Zekeriya, a great great guy, with a huge and genuine smile. I believe he is Palestinian. I'm not sure what he does but he seems to be capable of taking care of everything! His English is very articulate, and his granddaughter's name is also Aylin. Long chats with Zekeriya are on the way, I can feel that. While me, Halim, and Zekeriya enjoying the sun and talking about capoeira (yay!), Timou and his boss came. He was a very interesting and funny guy. Israeli. He is actually a neurosurgeon but some years ago decides it's not the right path for him so he becomes a gardener here.
The pool is across from Ahlan and I realized how hungry I was. Halim went back to school while I was trying to decide whether I should have lebane sandwich or Za'atar bread. Arif was reading his book and petting the cats in the garden. I went in and ordered a sandwich. That's when Dalal told me that they were both Palestinians, not Iranians. When I found Dalal's name odd for a Muslim and asked if it was a Christian Palestinian name, she just said that it was a common name. I felt intrusive with my last question and, maybe I'm wrong but, felt I made her uncomfortable with it. Sometimes I happen to talk too much. Dalal gave me free coffee and wonderful olives along with my sandwich. Aylin goes back to school.
Nammur welcomed me as usual. He is a funny, fat cat. Here's how: He just finished a bowl of milk, omelet and some falafel, and yet he's snuggling at me for more food!
Have I written that me and Halim will start working on establishing a Friend's of Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salam in Istanbul, and get in touch with some universities in Turkey and in the States regarding the intense lecture program they are offering?
The best part of the day is my new friend, Adan, Halim's son. He's seven and he's training capoeira. We played a little bit in the front yard, and he spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. His English is not too bad but whenever he got frustrated, we had to use an English-Arabic-Hebrew translation website, and my office papers. Adan likes to draw things to explain himself. :)
Well, I suppose that's pretty much of my first Wednesday in Israel.
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