So I'm sitting in a bar (how unusual) swapping insults with Itai (how unusual) and jiggling to some Middle Eastern-sounding music (that turned out to be Spanish), and suddenly Itai stops barracking me and asks if I read French. He's trying to book a Eurolines coach from Paris over the Internet, and there's no way to do it in English. As it happens I do, but I can't actually read the bar monitor - it's some 10 feet above my head - or reach the keyboard or mouse, so I'm useless to him. I'm bemused too - it's only a few weeks since Itai came home from a major trip around Europe, most of it unplanned. He was mugged in London and fled to the European mainland shortly after, which is a distressingly familiar tale among young Israeli travellers.
Turns out it's not Itai that's going. It's Abu something or other (Arab guys are known through their sons). He's always been chatty and cheerful, but I didn't even know he had any sons 'til he showed me his travel permit - Palestinians don't have passports as such - and visa. I was a little taken aback to find his home town given as Jerusalem but his nationality as Jordanian. It didn't occur to me until then that there are some real problems with the Palestinians not having a state in this day and age - don't ask me why, but I'd assumed they'd all be down as Israeli, perhaps with some proviso. We both smiled over the workaround of having Jerusalem as a Jordanian city, but it's a bit sad, in the sense of pathetic. As was the difficulty of figuring out where in Europe he'd legally be able to travel with his French visa. The limitations sure as heck weren't clear to me either from the document itself - and the girl he plans to meet actually lives in Denmark.
Hopefully he won't get arrested for contravening some regulation he doesn't understand along the way. He's no threat to anyone, just a normal dude doing normal dude things, one of the many here who works alongside, and has friends among, the Jewish population. Who have an equally bad time abroad, if for completely different reasons.
Isn't it about time Europe stopped randomly punishing people for being from the Middle East?
Just a thought.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Support for the Palestinian people
It's not often that a feedback post in Ha'aretz actually cheers me up, much less one from a Palestinian writer. But this one - in response to an article saying that the EU/World Bank money is starting to trickle through into Gaza and the West Bank - did.
Title: Give food, medicine and work, not money
Name: George
As a Palestinian, I ask that those who support my people give only food, medicine, medical equipment and tools to help further our scientific (not religious) education. Rebuilding a power plant is a good step but most of all we need jobs. I don't know of even one European manufacturing factory based in Gaza or the West Bank. Any donated (cash) money will quickly disappear into the Swiss Bank accounts of our corrupt politicians and will also be used to build more Kassam factories in Gaza and purchase weapons on the black market from Iran and Syria (though Lebanon and Egypt). Anything but jobs in Gaza and the West Bank (and abroad) will contribute more to the vicious circle of violence, not less. Is Sweden ready to build a new Volvo or Saab car plant in Jabalia ? Can Egeland pledge to employ 10,000 Palestinians to work in Norwegian and North Sea offshore drilling operations ?
Absolutely. Negotiate with Abbas, negotiate with Olmert, get a guarantee from Israel that there will be a 'hands off' approach to any such enterprise and a free flow of goods, get an agreement from the PA that the security team overseeing the building of the factory and (later) the day to day comings and goings of the employees and goods will be Israeli, or at the very least Europeans vetted by, overseen by, and under the control of Israelis.
You think that's hard, to be searched every day on your way in to work? S'funny, in Israel (or at least, the parts of Israel I know) it's almost impossible to move around without being searched somewhere along the line, but people here cope with it because we all know it's necessary. We're watched like hawks, too. Why should the society responsible for Israel's security problems be trusted while we still can not?
So there it is. And BTW the only Palestinian George I know is a Coptic Christian, so going by the name of the writer his is unlikely to be the prevailing view amongst the Muslim majority. It's still a good idea, with the provisions as above, it would go a long way towards helping the Palestinian people without inadvertently supporting their terrorist elements, it would help build an element of trust and co-operation between Israel and Europe (not to mention Israel and Gaza) - and it's probably do-able.
Title: Give food, medicine and work, not money
Name: George
As a Palestinian, I ask that those who support my people give only food, medicine, medical equipment and tools to help further our scientific (not religious) education. Rebuilding a power plant is a good step but most of all we need jobs. I don't know of even one European manufacturing factory based in Gaza or the West Bank. Any donated (cash) money will quickly disappear into the Swiss Bank accounts of our corrupt politicians and will also be used to build more Kassam factories in Gaza and purchase weapons on the black market from Iran and Syria (though Lebanon and Egypt). Anything but jobs in Gaza and the West Bank (and abroad) will contribute more to the vicious circle of violence, not less. Is Sweden ready to build a new Volvo or Saab car plant in Jabalia ? Can Egeland pledge to employ 10,000 Palestinians to work in Norwegian and North Sea offshore drilling operations ?
Absolutely. Negotiate with Abbas, negotiate with Olmert, get a guarantee from Israel that there will be a 'hands off' approach to any such enterprise and a free flow of goods, get an agreement from the PA that the security team overseeing the building of the factory and (later) the day to day comings and goings of the employees and goods will be Israeli, or at the very least Europeans vetted by, overseen by, and under the control of Israelis.
You think that's hard, to be searched every day on your way in to work? S'funny, in Israel (or at least, the parts of Israel I know) it's almost impossible to move around without being searched somewhere along the line, but people here cope with it because we all know it's necessary. We're watched like hawks, too. Why should the society responsible for Israel's security problems be trusted while we still can not?
So there it is. And BTW the only Palestinian George I know is a Coptic Christian, so going by the name of the writer his is unlikely to be the prevailing view amongst the Muslim majority. It's still a good idea, with the provisions as above, it would go a long way towards helping the Palestinian people without inadvertently supporting their terrorist elements, it would help build an element of trust and co-operation between Israel and Europe (not to mention Israel and Gaza) - and it's probably do-able.
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