Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Final Presentations 11/30

Megan- your presentation on the media was very interesting and I think it a great compliment to mine and Lila's presentation. I was wondering if your researched news sources that teenagers might listen to or see- such as MTV or E! or Comedy Central (shows like John Stewart). I wonder how they portray the conflict? Do they seek to get young people involved?


Jenna- It was very interesting to hear about this new group on campus. I hope they are able to continue with their group and get more people involved and hopefully be more active on campus. Do you know of anyone who is/would be offended or upset by this group? Does either side have people who disagree with the group? If they did, would they speak up? I am looking forward to seeing the videos you made.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Final Presentations 11/28

Alex- Your presentation was so interesting! You covered so much information and it was something that I wouldn't have normally looked into because I focus more on the arts than sports. I thought it was really interesting when you discussed how different cultural values can be seen in different soccer styles- for instance how the Brazilian team has a "samba"  style and the Germans are more rigid while the Barcelona team represents more than just football, it represents the cry for independence of Catalonia. I was also left speechless by the controversy of Aviram Baruchyan saying he would like to have an Arab play for his team at some point. I couldn't believe he had to make a public apology for trying to not be racist. I was wondering if you researched any other sports and found the same concepts? Even if you didn't research, would you say this idea can translate to all sports or is soccer/football so unique that it is only found there?  

Chris- I really enjoyed seeing your presentation as well. I loved all the visuals and the way you put your presi together. I really like seeing the concept of the "underground". Thank you for showing us that video of the Israeli Soldiers, it was fun to see. I was wondering, however, what is the mainstream Palestinian culture? How does it conflict with the underground? Is there a conflict?

Monday, November 21, 2011

Questions about final presentations 11/21

Ben- your presentation was really well done and I can't believe the amount of information you were able to retain! It was really interesting to see the way you tied in the history all the way from the beginning of the Jebusites into modern day Jerusalem and how this affected the Israeli relations with the Palestinians. It would be interesting to see some videos or interview Israelis and Palestinians to ask on whether or not they believed that this history influenced behavior of exclusion or inclusion. I do understand, however, that you said it was difficult to have information directly from both sides relating to this topic.

Amber- I really enjoyed your Prezi presentation and it looked great. I think that would be a great tool to use for future classes. I think it would be really cool to give presentations on campus and encourage more people to be involved outside of our class. It would also be really cool to see a service project aspect of this class. Is that something that you would be in charge of? Are you interested in making a Living Jerusalem club or involving the community in the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Questions from today's (11/16) final projects

Question for Kete:

What is the most interesting thing you found from you food research?

Which food is the 'most disputed'?

What foods do you identify with the most to explain your identity?

What other examples of food in Jerusalem show the conflict? 

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Evaluation Ideas

Here are some of the ideas I have for what should be discussed in the final evaluation:
- Readings: Difficulty, did they help understand the idea, varieties of genres
- Video Conferences: how much were we able to learn from each person? How well did he/she fit into the curriculum 
- Discussions: how well was the class able to discuss the different themes? What hindered/aided the discussions?
- Blogs: Do they help or thwart discussion in class? Do people only read blogs or not read blogs because ideas will be discussed in class?
- Documentaries- more documentaries to give a visual to Jerusalem? More during class or outside of class events?
- Living Jerusalem workshop- Student's involvement- should be more involved? Being able to connect ideas from the conference to the ideas discussed at the conference

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Video about Anatot Demo on 11/11/11

After googling the protests set to be happening on Friday, I came across this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uri2CLK-eJg

Monday, November 7, 2011

Reading Response 15


Looking through the Ir Amim, B’tselem and Sheikh Jarrah Solidary Movement websites, I am very interested to hear what Eitan Grossman will say. I am also very glad Amber posted the quote from Grossman. I am beginning to understand that there is no negotiation when inequality is still running ramped. Judging from the crimes committed against them, the Palestinians are not free and are not able to negotiate. 

Looking through the Ir Amim website, I was surprised to learn about the educational inequalities between Israelis and Palestinians. It is an aspect of the conflict I had not previously paid attention to. The website says they have already filed 3 petitions to the High Court of Justice. Each year the public education system has to turn away thousands of Palestinian students because of lack of classrooms. While the government is claiming to build more classrooms, they are doing slow at a delayed rate. It is amazing that education is still not available for certain people in a country such as Israeli. As Alex mentioned in his blog last week, Israeli is often seen as a democracy and a place of progressive ideas, but we are finding out that in certain aspects that is not always the case. 

On the B’tselem website there is a video called “No Minor Matter” that discusses four young Palestinians who were arrested as minors for stone throwing. It was shocking to see that some of them were arrested when they were 13 and 15 years old and taken to a prison where they were abused. It is very powerful video that shows some of the big problems that need to be fixed. 

Questions for Eitan Grossman:

1.       Did you grow up in Jerusalem? If so, what was your personal experience in regards to interaction between Palestinians and Israelis?
2.       What were you taught to believe? How did this change? Was there one specific event that changed your line of thinking?
3.       What is the biggest obstacle that your organization must confront? Is it changing the government or changing individual people?
4.       What is your idea of normalization? Is the mixing of Palestinians and Israelis in the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement marches considered part of this? Why or Why not?

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Reading Response 14


Sexual orientation and gay rights in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not something that I had considered before. Looking through the different website, from both The Jerusalem Open House (JOH) and AlQaws, I tried to get a feel for their environments and beliefs. (I also viewed the movie trailer for the documentary “City of Borders.” I would have liked to have watched it before tomorrow but I can’t find it on Netflix or other places on online. ) I could be wrong, but while both of them discussed tolerance and human rights, they each seemed to be more focused towards their own group. While the JOH did have its title in Arabic, videos and other media were in mostly Hebrew or English. AlQaws seemed mainly focused on Palestinians and Arabs. I understand, however, that fighting for gay rights is a struggle in itself, but I wonder if these two organizations work together on some of the same initiatives? Was AlQaws included in the march to the Knesset in 2010? I could not find solid information telling me either way. On the AlQaws website it says this organization rejects “all forms of oppression in its various manifestations, whether these be patriarchal, economic, nationalistic or ethnic…”. That being said, I want to know more about their role in rejected the hatred on both sides. 

On the JOH blog, the author of one of the entries put a link to pictures of the rally. One of the men held up a picture of Jerusalem with a message that said “Tolerance is Holy”. While I agree with this statement, it reminded me of something we had heard before. I cannot remember if it was said in a video conference or if I heard it from the documentary “Knowledge is the Beginning,” but the notion of only being tolerant rubs me the wrong way. Someone mentioned this idea and I agree with their idea. What is truly holy is acceptance, not only tolerance. Everyone discusses tolerance, and while I believe it is important to be tolerant in order to be accepting, tolerance should not be the end goal to any struggle, rather acceptance. Tolerance means you can stand to be in the presence of someone or some idea one does not agree with, and that is not enough. To truly have peace (just to throw around that word some more), we need to fully understand each other- and being tolerant is only understanding the surface of someone. 

Questions for Elinor:
1.       What do you identify with more? Your sexual orientation or your ethnicity?
2.       Can the fight for gay rights and the fight for ethnic rights go hand in hand? Do they contradict each other? Does being part of the LGBT make someone more prone to ethnic tolerance/acceptance or are most people still linked to their respective groups?
3.       What is your personal role in the “peace” process?

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Video Conference with Aaron and Guy

It was such a great experience being able to talk to Aaron and Guy from the Heartbeat Jerusalem project! I need to focus my thoughts, there is so much more I want to learn! I assumed this project would be more like a West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. I don't know why I imagined this was classical music. While both of those projects are amazing, they seem very different in their own ways. It seems like a great experience for the Israelis and Palestinians to not only learn about music but to also inshallah tear down the walls of distrust between them. I went to the Hip Hop Hudna music website and really enjoy listening to it. Not that I'm any sort of music expert, but for several reasons I think it's pretty amazing music.

It was also really interesting to hear Aaron's take on normalization. Having never traveled to the Israel or Palestine, despite what I read about, it is still hard for me to imagine the inequality between the two groups. I understood from Jenna that her problem of normalization is that it pretends that everything is fine when in reality it is not. But I had never been explained that it creates a false setting of equality between the two groups when in reality they are unequal in their society. Aaron also touched on the fact that each groups says about the other, "We want peace but they don't". It was interesting that he said this because that is what I keep hearing from many different voices. Everyone is stuck in this 'its them' mentality.

Finally, I wish we could have heard what Guy was saying. I want to know from him the sort of reactions he has received being an Israeli working on this project. What challenges has he faced? What does his family think? What did you think about it when you first began working on this project? What got you starting in the project?

I am so glad we got this opportunity. I am really moved by the project. I hope that if/when I travel to Israeli I will get a chance to see the Heartbeat project and the kids who are participating in it.