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? 

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

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

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?

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?

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.

Reading Response 13

Looking at the Sabreen Center website and the Jerusalem Music Center website, they are both similar yet have subtle details that distinguish them. From what I can infer from the website, the Sabreen Center is community oriented and views Jerusalem as a city that should include all people. It seems focused on the child as a whole and education not only of music but of character. They show through their educational objectives and narratives from children that it is a way of creating a sense of importance for the local Palestinian people and its traditional music. The way the information is presented is very convincing, especially in the language that it uses. On the other hand, a much fancier website from the Jerusalem Music Center exhibits a different feeling. The JMC seems as if it was more proper and had more money to spend! The website focuses on "Israelis" and "Israeli Music". Although it doesn't explicitly say so, the website appears to cater to a certain class of wealthy Israelis. The title is in English and Hebrew, but not in Arabic. It does mention, however, in its objectives that it hopes to preserve Arabic music. Its goals are more in regards to finding talent and nurturing young people with a promising future. While reading the website, it is also convincing that it is a center based on cultivating young talent. 

Questions for Said Murad and David Broza:

1.       1. What challenges have you encountered being an Israeli working with mostly Palestinians?

2.       2. How do the children deal with their situation through music?

3.       3. How many children do you have? What ages are they?

4.       4. Have some of your students gone on to enter the West-Eastern Divan Orchesta?