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?
It was really interesting to speak with Eitan and his work. I also watched the video about minors in prisons, and it is such a problem. There are so many social issues that these organizations deal with.
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