Peace Conference in Amman (II)

The conference still continues for 2 days more after the Palestinian group leaves us. We keep having the structure of “workshops” in the morning and open mikes in the early afternoon. The result is a monopolization of the Conference by the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This conference was supposed to be about tools for Conflict Transformation, like this or this especially oriented for youth. This is the field I am especially interested in and the reason why I came to the Middle East. The result, however, has been very useless in this sense. In the personal level things worked normally, at least. We all celebrated Shabbath with the Israeli group (not all Arabs were present, but some were) and we all went out together (here all mixed and all together) during the nights in Amman. However, I don't feel satisfied with the contents and development of the conference, and considered we might have taken advantage of this special situation of having Arabs and Israelis in the same room, ready to have some kind of dialogue.

I am happy that at least I have had the chance to experience what happens when you have groups in conflict and there is not an appropriate mediation or conduction of the discussion by someone, that is, I learnt what we should never do. Those who were supposed to be expert mediators reduced their role in the discussions to maintaining an order for the speakers and handing the microphone to the person talking. Mediation, to my understanding, is much more than that. The result is that by the end of the 4^th day, the discussions were stuck at the same place that they were on the 1^st day, or even worse (read a bit more and you will see). Both sides focusing on their own pain but refusing to identify or understand the other, not to mention to find the possibilities to work together. And the rest (non-Middle-Easterners) most of the time watching in silence. It is a fact that the Israeli-Palestinian is not at all a balanced conflict. The occupation implies a big dose of structural violence on the Palestinian people everyday and you can tell the erosion that this has in their lack of hope. However, people seemed to have forgotten that this conference was not between political leaders but between normal people from both sides. This was the chance to talk in person with "the others" and try to understand why the think like they think. This conference, if focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, should have dealt with peoples' necessities, fears, hopes, personal conceptions of peace and justice and possibilities to discuss them. The participants however forgot this and, of course, the mediators also forgot to remind them.

In fact, the last open-mike session really left me petrified, as it really ended up showing the typical stereotypes and tags used on both sides of this conflict, and proving the conference had not changed anything in the participants. A Jordanian participant took the microphone and said he and most Arabs were in favor of peace and had never had any problem with the Jews, they only had problems with Zionism, as the root of the oppression of Palestinians and other Arabs in the region. Then an Israeli participant took the microphone and said she was really astonished at the things she had heard in the conference about her country. She said she was a proud Jew and a proud and convinced Zionist. I wonder if the tag “Zionist” meant the same for both of them, and I am sure it did not (see for example the big difference between this and this understanding of the same term for two Israeli writers). However, we will never know what they really meant with it, as without proper mediation we witnessed a basic conflict of absolutes (pro-, anti-, with or without, us or them, etc…), where no solution seems to be possible.

After this, another of the Israeli participants took the microphone and gave his final speech. He wanted to leave clear that there could not be any peace in the Middle East until all the Arab States acknowledged the right of Jewish People to have a state. After that, he emphasized that the opinion of most Israeli population and of their representatives there was not so different to that of the Israeli government, and that everyone should accept that in order to reach any agreement.

Once again, I felt like hearing the words of a politician, rather than those of a civilian seeking for dialogue with “the other”. I did not understand the appropriateness of this man to consider himself as a representative of the Israeli population, or even, the Israeli government. I wonder how we can expect any civil peace iniciative to work if we still repeat what our governments say, and cannot think for ourselves. I wonder how we can expect any civil peace initiative to work if we acknowledge the fact that we do not speak for ourselves but for our government (would he then consider all Palestinians there voters of Hamas and therefore fierce anti-Israelis or even Judeophobes?).

After some time in this area I am starting to understand that conflicts here are not so different to conflicts anywhere else. I remember when some former and current politicians in Spain were strongly prasing peace, while going to an Iraq war we never were called to, expanding Spanish weapon’s industry with people like Gadafi, or talking about the end of Basque terrorism, while infuriating the whole national political scene and confronting all the regions in the country, and taking part in human rights violations against Basque prisoners or illegal war on terrorism. Can someone really believe in the good intentions of the political class? Why do policy-makers never listen or accept what experts in conflict resolution say, and usually do just the opposite? I can only see two kinds of people here: it’s not about Palestinians and Israelis, it’s not about Jews and Muslims, it’s not about Westerners and Easterners, it’s just about those who really want a real Peace at any price, and those who say that want Peace but also have other agendas (political interests, economic benefits, etc…). Most politicians (anywhere in the world) belong to the second group, but until we don’t realize it and work from the grassroots level, people to people, focusing on our real needs and fears, and not on our ideologies or believes, they will be the ones deciding for us.

First days in Amman

I don’t have too much time to see Amman during the conference. I am staying in a cheap but comfortable hotel in the Downtown, from where I have to catch a taxi every morning to go to the Conference and back in the evening. The ride takes around 30-40 minutes, so I usually have time to talk to taxi drivers, those graduates in city life.

On the first night I decide to go out with the Jordanians before going to my hotel to sleep. It is around 1.30 and we are at a really crowded street, full of people smoking Argile and drinking non-alcoholic beverages. Around me I see people dressed in the Khaliji way (people from the Persian Gulf) with long white dresses and kefiyas. I see big expensive cars, most of them huge AWD, with plates from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, etc... My Jordanian friends explain to me that in summer it’s typical for the Arabs from the Gulf to come to Jordan escaping from the unbearable heat in the area.

I decide to go home and hop on a taxi. After an unclear conversation with the taxi driver, he understands that I am from Spain. Madrid or “Barshalona”? (Referring to the football teams) Barcelona, of course! (I’m no real fan of any, but if I have to confess I have more sympathy for Barcelona). The guy says, Barcelona good! He seems to be a big fan of Barcelona. He starts looking for some CD, then he surprises me opening the sunshade for the co-pilot, which turns out to be a DVD player with a screen. He plays a DVD and I cannot be more astonished. He has the best plays and goals of FC Barcelona in the last years. All of them, of course, with Arabic songs at the back which praise “Barsha” like this, this or this. He kind of played around 10 videoclips on our trip to my hotel. After trying to sell me the copied DVD with the videos for some dinars (as a good Arab, always making business) I get off the taxi and I could not be more amazed to see the devotion of these people to Spanish football.

The next morning I try to go back to the hotel to attend the conference. The taxi I get in looks like a dump. It is dirty and destroyed. The driver is a quite old and very dark skinned man with a very Arab-bedouin appearance, but hidden on his uncountable wrinkles he has surprisingly blue eyes. He speaks good English so we talk during our trip. He explains me that he is Palestinian, from Jerusalem, now a refugee in Jordan. He says he still remembers the time when he was expelled in 1967 from East Jerusalem and had to come to Jordan. The man has an excellent education, as he acknowledges to have gone to University in Cairo and to have a couple of degrees. As a matter of fact, he says he has been working as a border official at the different Jordanian borders, including the Israeli, but he is now retired. Is it ok for you now bein Palestinian here? Yes, he says, now I am Jordanian. Can you go back to Palestine? I can, but I have to ask Israel for visa, of course, it’s possible but takes time. By the way, I say, if you had such a good job and you are retired now, why are you working as a taxi driver? I am retired, he says, but I still like beautiful women! He answers while he “gives me five”.

Conference in Amman (I)

Once in Amman, we attend the opening of the Peace Conference. It seems to be a very serious thing, with official personalities included. We have a former Prime Minister of Jordan

a Christian Priest (H. E. Ekonomos Fr. Nabil D. Haddad)

and some Muslim Sheikhs

all of them presenting their best hopes for the conference and putting forward their work together for Peace in the region (some are part of this Jordanian Research Center).

After this, the participants become the protagonists and we sit in a circle in order to have an open mike and talk about our expectations for the conference. No one seems to be brave enough for talking so an member of the Israeli group takes the microphone. He says: “my name is ….. and I come from Tel Aviv”. At this moment a huge slam is heard on the speakers table. We see a member of the Jordanian group really infuriated while he shouts in Arabic something like “I’m out of here!!!” All the members of his group try to go after him to convince him to stay but they all leave.

Of course this is the first conflict that raises in the conference and people seem affected and react to it. We start hearing many different people (Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis mainly) talking about their perceptions of the conflict. A couple of cases are worth mentioning. A Palestinian guy, who comes in the name of a Palestinian youth organization speaks about the way in which there was no “transparency”, as they had no idea they were going to share the conference with Israeli organizations. It seems most Palestinian NGOs (like most Israeli NGOs and the government) are not up to dialogue with “the other”.

Another Palestinian guy takes the microphone and speaks very slowly. He addresses the guy who left, by explaining that unlike him, he is from a refugee camp in the West Bank, that he has been fighting for the liberation of Palestine and suffering the oppression all his life, he contributed in the Second Intifada by throwing stones and he has been in an Israeli prison for 7 years. However, he says, he has now come to the conference with the Israeli group, in order to put forward the necessity to have dialogue. Leaving the room in front of the Israelis, like the other guy did, does not help at all the Palestinian people and does not help him at all, as a Palestinian suffering the occupation every day, he says.

Some other people talk, there are many people from Jordan, American Jews, American Christians, American Arabs, a couple of Europeans (including myself), etc… They all try to say how necessary and efficient dialogue with the “enemy” is, and how surprised they were after having experienced talking to “the other”.

The next morning I arrive late to the conference after an odyssey of traffic in Amman. The whole group seems to be discussing something. I get that some group is presenting some reasons why they will have to leave the conference. It seems one Palestinian group linked to the Quakers cannot stay in the conference if there are also Israelis. They explain that this is against their organization’s policies and they have to leave or they might have problems back home. They are not supposed to meet with Israelis on the risk of being seen as “normalizing” the situation. I cannot really believe this. Many people insist on them to stay, including other Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis. A Jordanian guy starts quarrelling with another Jordanian guy at the other side of the room, telling him what kind of Arab he is if he is inviting Israelis to his country and “showing them around with his car”. He is taken out by another Jordanian guy. The Palestinian-quaker group takes the microphone again recognize that personally they would really like to stay but that they have to leave now, or they will have problems with their organizations. I wonder how we can really achieve peace if we are not able to break the structures and decide things for ourselves. Without disobedience and challenge there is no possibility for peace. I understand that staying might have supposed for these people, but if Egyptians had not gone against their same structures that claimed to be necessary for “stability”, Mubarak would still be in power.

Trip to Amman and Conversation with Mizrahi Jews

Coloured windows that shows how in Yemen, the word Allah was used in Arabic, exactly the same for both for Muslims and Jews.

Last Thursday I travelled from Tel Aviv to Amman for a Peace Conference. I did this with a group of Israelis from an NGO called Wounded Crossing Borders, which has managed to create dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians that have suffered physically and psychologically due to war.

The trip took us through the North of Israel in order to cross through the Jordan River Crossing and then we took a bus to Amman. In total we travelled for around 8 hours. In the bus I get to talk about the members of this group. One of them is an Iraqi Jew, now living in Israel. She explains me how she had never thought about going to Israel and considered herself even anti-Zionist some decades ago. However, when Saddam Hussein came to power she was expelled from the country, leaving all her properties there, and after travelling to Turkey and to other countries in the region, the only realistic option left was to go to Israel. She arrived in Israel as an Arabic native speaker and had to learn Hebrew, get into the new culture, etc... Nowadays she is integrated in the Israeli life, but longs for the day she can go back to her beloved Iraq, of which she still keeps deeds of property and even a passport. On the topic of Mizrahi Jews, Arab Jews and their forced immigration to Israel and current situation in the country, I think it might be interesting to read this article by David Sasha, the director of the Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, or this paper, (also available here) by professor Ella Shohat, from NYU.

Almost one million of Arab Jews sought refugee in Israel since its creation in 1948.

Another member of the group comes originally from Lebanon. She explains me that she never experienced persecution herself but something drew her to Israel (even if I later learn that her uncle, a professor, was killed in Lebanon just for being Jewish). She talks about the beauty of Lebanon and how much she misses this city and would love to go back (Israelis are not allowed to travel to Lebanon and Lebanese are not allowed into Israel). It seems to be a general feeling in her family. As a matter of fact she tells me a story about it. Her late father was hospitalized in the USA 20 years ago and she wanted to visit him. It happened that the Hospital authorities in the USA would not let her in his room due to some schedule restrictions. She called her father and told him to tell the nurses that he felt he was going to die and he urgently needed to see his daughter now. Some minutes later the nurses let her in and she saw her father plunged into tears. Wow dad, you’re a really good actor, how can you pretend to be crying so realistically? He answers: I was not pretending, I was just remembering Beirut.

Mizrahi Jews in Yemen (only a couple of hundreds are left in the country due to persecution). We can even observe their physical similitude and even similar dressing style with the current Muslim Arabs of the Middle East.

TRIP TO EREZ CROSSING

On Wednesday an Israeli friend invited me to come with him to the Erez Crossing i.e. the border crossing with Gaza. He volunteers in an organization that helps Palestinian people to come to Israeli hospitals in order to be treated.

The first thing that shocked me was to learn that getting out of Gaza is in any way possible. At the Erez Crossing you can find cabs waiting for people coming out, which means there is regularity in it. However, my friend explains me that it is quite difficult for Gazans to get out in order to go to hospital (the only reason they can be allowed into Israel). Actually, we were supposed to go on Tuesday, but the people we were going to take were refused the permit for no reason. Things work this way here. Furthermore, the permits these people have are exclusively granted by Israeli hospitals (not border authorities) who offer to give them medical treatment. Thus, their permit allows them only to go to hospital and back into Gaza. They could not stop anywhere or go anywhere else outside this way.

My friend explains to me how, according to what Gazans tell him, they have to cross first a border with Hamas, then a border with Fateh, and finally the Israeli border. This is to prevent direct contact between Hamas and Israeli Authorities.

As you can see in the pictures the Erez Crossing looks almost like an airport terminal. It is a huge modern building with a beautiful design. It seems this border is to stay here as the definitive border with Israel. When we arrive there a couple on their sixties is already waiting for us. The man speaks some English but the woman does not seem to understand much. She wears a big cross on her neck, which makes me understand she’s Christian. On the car I cannot refrain from asking them. They confirm they are Christian. Are you from Gaza city? Yes, we are. How are things for Christians there? There are some thousand Christians in Gaza. Things are ok, he answers. I would think he does not feel like talking about the real situation. However, something makes me think it can’t be that bad for them in Gaza in comparison to Gazan Muslims when they openly expose their faith wearing a cross, deny their problems are due to their religious beliefs (and seem to be willing to go back).

VISIT TO RAMALLAH

Last weekend I had the chance to visit a friend in Ramallah. The most important city in the Palestinian territory (not taking into account East Jerusalem), Ramallah is the current political center of the West Bank, a city where official buildings of local and international organizations configure the landscape. To go from Tel Aviv to Ramallah is a quite easy and safe journey. One only needs to get from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem by bus or sherut and then to find a bus to Ramallah. On the sherut from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, me and my travel partner, the author of gloriousforest, meet a man travelling to Ramallah too, he will take us to the place where to get a bus there in Jerusalem. He tells us he works in Tel Aviv in the construction sector. However, he has a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Economy, which he got in India. Obviously, he might work at a better place, and he lived in the USA for a while, until things got difficult for Arabs. Now back in Palestine, under occupation and with a corrupt government, working illegally in Israel is the best thing he can do. Yes, illegally, you read well. He sneaks every 2-3 weeks through checkpoints without having any permit nor passport that grants entry into the country. How does he do it? Isn’t the wall something built to prevent the sneaking of “illegal” and “dangerous” aliens into Israel? Not if you know cheeky Israelis that for some hundreds of shekels will take you into the back seat of their cars (which will never be checked if an Israeli is driving). The fact is if there was a real security concern, neither the wall nor the checkpoints would have prevented anything from happening, as checking only takes place for Palestinian-looking people (even if Israeli citizens), never for Israelis or Western foreigners that cross with them.

We cross the famous Qalandiya checkpoint, surrounded by the impressive wall, without any problem or checking. Now we are in the West Bank. The friend I’m visiting lives in an area near Ramallah which is still under Israeli control. They live here so that they can still keep the Jerusalem ID and cross to Jerusalem when they need to. However, the area is no-man’s land. An Israeli-controlled area where no Israelis live. An area where chaos and dirt are the mayors. My friend explains me how trash has not been collected in the last month and how there is no authority in the place. We see trash containers so full that rubbish falls on the ground, some others seem to have been burnt, in order to get rid of it. My friend tells me how some weeks ago there was a killing near her house and no one has taken responsibility not been charged for it. Here there is no law but the Jungle’s law.

It’s evening and we go to Ramallah for some drinks. Curiously enough, Ramallah presents a lifestyle quite similar to that of any (non-coastal) Mediterranean city, including the possibility to go out at night and have a few drinks surrounded by friends in a terrace while listening to good music. The contrasts are big between the more conservative and more liberal citizens of this city, in which Arab Muslims and Christians live together. However, religion is not the main role in this division. Liberal Muslims and Christians meet at pubs and bars like Sangria or Beit Anissa, the same way conservative Muslims and Christians stay home or go to church or mosque. At least this is what seems to happen with my friends.

After some beers at a cool bar full of internationals we go back home, expecting the next day’s visit to the city. The next morning we visit the tomb of Yasser Arafat, a guy I am not sure if I consider a good leader, but who definitely is considered as so here. A beautiful building covers his remains (although a Palestinian friend tells me his remains are not there and would never be allowed back into Palestine) surrounded by men in huge guns (from a Palestinian Police which actually resembles an army for the size of its weapons). After this we see the many governmental buildings in the city, the various international organizations, the refugee camps, a big settlement nearby it, etc… I start to think every village, town or city in Palestine seems to come by default with a couple of refugee camps inside and a couple of Israeli settlements somewhere nearby.

In the afternoon we meet with some friends of my friend. One of them works for Save the Children in Silwan. She is in charge of attending children that have been detained by the Israeli authorities, trying to give them psychological support for their reinsertion into society. She tells me how hard her job is when she sees children detained when they are 8-12 years old. Furthermore, she explains how these children are detained in the West Bank and taken to Israeli Children’s centers which they cannot leave for around a month or more. When they get out they are usually refused in the schools they used to attend and have nothing to do. Most of these children are accused of throwing stones. These detentions are illegal and have been denounced not only by Save the Children but also by Israeli Human Rights Organizations like B'Tselem.

THE ODISSEY OF GETTING A VISA

On Sunday morning, after almost a week in this country, I still don’t have a visa to stay more than two weeks. A thing I don’t quite understand. I go to the Ministry of Interior with the boss of the organization I’m volunteering with and we try to talk to someone in the Visa section. We wait for a while and ask about it on the outer window of the Visa Department. They know nothing. They say the decision to give me a 2-week visa was taken at the airport for some reason they do not know yet. And until they don’t get my file they won’t know anything about it (that won’t happen until two weeks after I arrived i.e. the exact date I have to leave the country). We try to talk to a higher rank there, but nothing can be done.

I feel quite miserable and deceived with this. I start thinking about the worst of the possibilities coming: I definitely have to leave the country. What can I do now? Go home and that’s it? Fortunately, the boss of my organization is a very powerful and great person, who is used to never give up and try. And she’s convinced we are going to achieve it, and I’m gonna be able to stay here, as I wanted.

Once at the office we start contacting anyone possible. A lawyer from a famous buffet in town comes to visit us. He looks at my case. It seems they can actually not extend my visa, as the law requires a special visa for volunteers to stay here. But this never happened with the tens of volunteers they’ve had here!! Why is this happening now to me? They might have known who you are, or are probably suspicious of the activities young Europeans try to do in this area lately (I guess they refer to the Flotilla and the “Flytilla”, both peaceful efforts to break access to the Palestinian Territories). The lawyer gives us the name of a person we should contact at the Ministry of Interior, in order to let her know about my case. We prepare a letter with all my information and all the documents proving the reasons to come here, including a transcript from my university.

I don’t know what to think. Why have I been taken as “suspicious”? I have no ties with any organization and would actually not even participate in any of those initiatives. At least not now. Anyway, what I’m sure of is that the “danger” my presence here means, has to do with politics rather than security. The possibility that I might be an activist is what created all these problems, but being an activist does not mean endangering the existence of a country or its citizens, but willing to change its status quo. And here is where you become a problem for the national authorities. But we know this does not only happen in Israel, but in any country. It is just important to be aware of it.

After sending various faxes to different people and calling tens of times to different offices in the Ministry of Interior I finally decide to wait until the day after and try to call them again, or to go in person to the Ministry and try to apply again for a Visa extension.

When I arrive the next morning we try to call them, but get no answer. I think about going to the Ministry. Then we check the messages in the answering machine and we hear there is a message from the Ministry of Interior in which I am given the Visa! This is great news! I just have to go to the Visa office again, with some money and 2 pictures. I am happy this finally got solved. Later in the day they call again to make sure I have gotten the message. After all it has not been so bad and I think they realized there must have been some error with me. Even the lawyer tells us it is unbelievable how quick they answered and solved the problem. This has been after all part of the Middle Eastern experience, but I cannot say it has been a pleasant episode at all.