waxing satirical..

if you visit the uae community blog today - which i do regularly - you'll find an amusing clip made in dubai.. for your viewing pleasure this clip can be viewed right here.. bring pop corn..

the denial test..

a solid 24 hours have passed and no denial statement has been made by any of the parties - syria - israel and turkey.. the prime minister made a nice speech about it.. and it all sounds very lovely.. better to talk than to shoot- he says.. would have liked to have seen the hamas leadership's facial expressions.. imagining a "huh?!"

curious about the syrian coverage i took a little cyber stroll and found this .. if anyone would like to enlighten us about the syrian angle i'd be grateful..

oh syria - remember them?

if you search through this blog for discussion of potential peace deals with syria you'll find a lot.. why? because unlike the mainstream news that so often likes to announce peace negotiations like they are some huge breakthrough - pretending to erase all previous developments (almost) - we here at EMSpeace like to genuinely track this sort of shit..

like just a month ago for example..

but anyway - as if never really discussed before - our mainstream online publications in true celebratory fashion have announced that talks are now commencing between israel and syria under turkish mediation..

im not normally a conspiracy theorist but i recall quite recently reading about trukish and syrian ties strengthening.. and now i cant help but almost think of that as political PR to couch the mediator's role..

i genuinely feel like we have a peace deal already signed and as if we are spending years window dressing it before it is unveiled..

my one question for my country and also for my neighbour.. and i CC it to my prime minster and mr assad as well as to the education ministers on either side - can anyone possibly imagine this peace? does any image come up when we close our eyes? have we been given anything to yearn for? have we even learned to want it? or is this the next chapter in syria-israel peace media PR?

i couldnt find the song i was looking for by arrested development (united front) but i love these guys so here's something else by them instead..

responsible tourism..

sounds heavy right? yes - it is.. so i have a house guest.. a friend from overseas i hadnt seen in a long time who decided to include israel on an around the world trip.. what do you do.. do you sell this place like it was the best thing since sliced bread? do you tell him we're angels? what happens when he mentions the palestinians? do you "enlighten" him? do you change his attitude? do you influence his thinking? or do you just let him bask in ignorance and flow with it?

he arrived early on a workday so after directing him to my pad we went for a walk around old yaffo - he was hyper.. and landed at a cafe for breakfast.. he walked passed shhhhhh... *whisper* arabs.. shhh.. was quite alarmed and there you had it - my first responsible tourism task - normalise his impression of arabs.. i spoke to the cafe owner in arabic and he watched how "normal" it was.. the situation was then made infinitely more glamarous for him as i befriended a couple of attractive young female documentary film makers who had met at the cafe and were planning their research on yaffo..

culturally and politically i decided that i wanted him to taste everything.. no hiding and no white washing.. friday was particularly interesting.. we started off by going to the beach for a surf - ok i surfed.. and then went to an awesome street culture festival where he saw the best of israel's breakers battle it on..

that afternoon we swapped street for telaviv hippiness and headed to my very favourite drum beach.. was awesome as usual.. but we then decided to flip the plans around a little and cut course to jerusalem.. where i was to take my guest to a flower power kabbalat shabbat (after a moving visit to the old city where we went to the wailing wall - of course).. at the kabbalat shabbat people basically sang totally kumbaya shabbat songs around a pot luck dinner.. he freaked out haha.. i loved it.. i wanted him to see a variation of judaism that was new and different.. poor guy.. ;)

we then stayed at a friend's place so that we could wake up in the morning and head straight out to the dead sea.. there was a shhh.. *whisper* arab.. at the friend's place.. a pa *really whisper* le *keep it down* stinian.. a real live one.. who also slept over..

the next day we drove down to the dead sea through the west bank and he saw: roadblocks - the wall - the poverty etc etc .. i explained its background.. when we got to the petrol station near the dead sea he had his first chance to chat to some arabs.. the guy that worked at the diner had lived in hawaii for three years.. he's from jericho.. they were really friendly and it was a great opportunity to help my guest chill out about the whole stereotype thing..

as we proceeded to drive along the dead sea to the "spot" i looked over at the jordanian side.. and again filled with a bitter sweet twist of nostalgy.. it was no longer strange or foreign to me.. i knew that side.. i knew its distance from its capital and i know the terrain.. i suddenly felt less trapped than ever before.. i suddenly felt more relevant to my region.. and in turn to my country.. like i knew the truth..

the dead sea was awesome and from there we continued to the ramon crater before heading off to ben gurion's burial site.. a little romantic dosage of zionism.. a word that has been dirtied in many ways lately..

that night we caught up with a bunch of friends of mine who are in the IDF.. we had dinner in a trendy telavivian joint..

my guest is jewish and loves israel.. a lot.. but has had a stay that has been real.. he has seen israeli arab coexistence.. he has met and spent the evening with arabs.. partied with telavivians.. met russian immigrants.. mixed with refugees and activists as well as trendies and high society..

he has had an exhausting yet amazing time - enough so to prolong his stay as much as his schedule could afford at the expense of the rest of his journey..

i think it goes to show that the truth aint always pretty - but its the only road to happiness..

check out our four legged friend that we met on the way back..

does this sound a bit childish

?

lightly torn..

last night a rocket ripped through ashkelon.. actually this happens to israeli towns bordering gaza all the time - like everyday.. but this time there was some serious damage when the rocket harmed a bunch of civillians.. normally they fall in open fields..

at the time of the attack i was in my arabic class.. i had a lot on my mind anyway.. i was receiving an sms flood from people about a host of quite significant issues (largely to do with the health of loved ones) and i also have a house guest that im looking after.. so it was hard to focus on the class anyway..

the news came as an sms to the girl sitting next to me in class.. she suddenly gasped and the look in her eyes was pretty telling..

פיגוע pigua attack she whispered with that look.. that look we all have when we say that word realtime..

כמה cama how many i whispered back..

לא יודעים עדיין lo yodim adayin dont know yet..

i sat there angry/hurt/tired/exhausted/drained/crazy/disappointed/sickntired and tried to make up my mind if i could just sit there learning arabic.. i decided i had to..

neighbourly reflection..

my friends gawked when i said i was going to spend israeli independence day in jordan.. it seemed ridiculous.. i mean yeah i want peace and i want the palestinians to have an independence day too - which is celebrated by all peacefully and with them celebrating mine but in the meantime im still a proud israeli.. so it wasnt an easy decision..

but as the years creep on and the palestinian get more miserable while we get richer and less desperate-looking its becoming harder and harder for me to cling to that sense of thank goodness we've made it and more and more i hear myself mumbling and now what..

so somewhere between that issue and my longstanding dream to cross the hills that deliniate the shores of jordan along the dead sea - i decided to take the plunge and flew across last minute to amman to catch up with some friends.. the trip is pretty much on video so in some places i have marked v to indicate that you can check out a relevant clip..



no i didnt feel safe flying over and i was scared.. ok i admit it.. i was scared.. but excited.. very..

the first morning we rented a car and set out to the dead sea to an amazing place called mujib.. i wish i had photos but it was hard.. basically a several hour hike through a ravine filled with water.. we saw rock climbing fish and even a water snake as we battled sometimes ademant currents to surmount rock formations submerged in torrents on water.. it was stunning in beauty with super high cliffs hugging from either side..



it was pretty amazing driving towards the dead sea and looking at the israeli side.. im so used to dreaming about what the landscape is on the jordanian side and i was quite surprised that it wasnt as steep as had thought or as threatening.. from israel it had always seemed so much more dramatic.. interesting analogy to my impression of jordan as a whole mind you.. one thing that was however very dramatic was the local signage for the dead sea.. see below..


that night we drove through karak for dinner and ended up sleeping in dana village.. nestled in the slopes of a grand park..



it was truly awesome.. arriving under the veil of the night we played music till quite late - entertaining both ourselves and some of the locals.. and most certainly loving it as you can see in the video..



the next day we drove down to wadi rum and v hired a jeep to get us into the thick of things so we could hike around the wadi.. a great advantage that my travel group had was that we all spoke a degree of arabic.. it made life much much easier.. even as i taxied into amman.. made a huge difference to be able to communicate effectively..

the wadi was stunning.. we hiked up to the lawrence spring area.. a nice green stripe of flora and fauna that feeds of the water that emerges between two dense layers of rock - like i know what im talking about haha.. anyway v it was stunning..

we then had some bedouin tea and made our way to the camp site.. a han (bedouin tent/camp) a bit further into the wadi.. where our guide was busy making us dinner.. so off we went to see the sunset v and play some music.. and we let the desert play some for us too v.. worthwhile clicking on this last one :) as we continued to play silly buggars.. [personal note to dan - check out my laugh in this video - i think something mayhave rubbed off]



when we got back to camp we discovered an amazing desert dinner of chicken and vegetables roasted under ground in this huge submerged pot.. delicious.. after which we played music for a good few hours.. one of the truest musical gems of the trip however was the songs played to us on the oud by our bedouin guide.. totally compulsory listening.. i recorded two of them.. i urge you to listen to both.. v v..

the next day we set out to hike deeper into the wadi and climbed sand dunes - got royally lost - ok maybe not so lost - but we could have been.. yes its true.. ok maybe not so true.. just flow with me.. please.. and at some stage - i guess the heat prevailed over our maturity and we found ourselves walking with water bottles on our heads.. mother africa style.. resulting in me and amilia having a bottleheadchickenfight.. as its scientifically known..



wow i love the desert.. it wasnt mine.. not like the negev here in israel.. but it was so wonderful just to be in a country next to mine and to feel so safe and to have so much fun.. what a treat.. i wish i could do the same in palestine and syria and lebanon this weekend..

as we drove back to amman the heat continued to corrode our faculties and the jordanian radio wasnt helping.. its hardly worse than the israeli stations from a quality perspective but the content is largely arab - when ur lucky enough to nab a station.. i guess the main fuel for the ensuing insanity was despair.. but the result was only a certain kind of funny..



that night we had dinner in amman.. we had already had some majorly fiesty political discussions during the day so when similar debates followed at night it got quite challenging.. but i guess honesty is an important part of friendship.. probably true to our crossnational situation as well.. not everyone welcomed the energy in our conversations.. but i was grateful.. i think real friends need to know how to disagree as well as agree.. ultimately the political debates uncovered that we felt the same about many core issues.. i guess talking has a habit of bringing you to those concusions faster than fighting for exmaple.. maybe it wasnt a coincidence..

i was sad after dinner.. a wonderful weekend was heading to a close.. i was pre-missing it hehe.. i had seen my neighbour.. looked it in the eye.. looked at myself from its perspective.. heard countless views.. and done what i do on any one of my own birthdays.. mix partying with reflecting and solitude with friendship.. here it was both personal and national..

more than ever - i continue to pray and wish for peace..

on the wall..

last night when i went to the gym i bumped into my armenian neighbour who was also exercising.. she invited me to a lecture at cafe yaffa which is where im learning arabic..

anyway the lecture was very powerful..


some extremely well informed people formed a panel of speakers and the material presented was insightful and compelling.. the room was packed primarily with jews but there were some arabs as well.. a mix of young and old.. all rivetted..



i'll try to get some more of the talk.. waiting to hear from my neighbour.. once i speak to her i'll update this post if there is more to say..

only so much shit anyone will put up with..

interesting twist at the end.. you never know how justice will prevail and surface.. i would like to think of the baby buffalo as the peace process and the herd as the masses..