Interesting idea.
Jonathan Edelstein, his Head Heebness, suggests a legal treaty between the State of Israel and its Arab citizens, so as to ensure their rights and equality, and to strengthen their connection to the state, on lines similar to the Waitangi Treaty, which is the foundation of white-Maori relations in New Zealand.

posted by Imshin 08:15

As I write these words, a large group of young men in white shirts is dancing and singing along the street under my window. It is the eve of Simchat Torah, when observant Jews celebrate finishing the year long reading of the weekly portions of the Torah and begin again.

Hag Same’ach.

posted by Imshin 19:57

Schiphol (and misconceptions)
Eldest and I were on the train on our way back from somewhere or other, when the train made a stop at Schiphol Airport and filled up with people with suitcases. The seats across from us filled up with big Americans. I might point out that, being rather small, everyone seemed enormous to me in Holland. The ethnic Dutch were real giants. Luckily there were so many non-ethnic Dutch (I hope this is not a very un-PC thing to say, but how else can I call them?) I didn't feel completely dwarfish. I eavesdropped shamelessly to the Americans' conversation with a Dutchman who was sitting with them, and to the conversation that their colleagues, sitting behind me, were having with a woman, who turned out to be Israeli. They were from Florida and they were on a one-night stopover on their way to... Israel! Eldest and I were flabbergasted. They had flown all this way to such a beautiful city and they weren't stopping. They were continuing straight on to Israel (Were they completely mad?!). I thought they must be reporters or something, but no. They planned to rent a car and head up to the Galilee. Wonders never cease.

* * * *

Waiting to board our El Al flight to Tel Aviv from Schiphol Airport, after the last security checks, a young couple sat down opposite Eldest and I, a man and a woman. The man seemed Middle Eastern, he could have been Jewish or Arab, I couldn't tell. He had one of those weird little, strangely shaped beards young men seem to sport these days (Don’t ask me why. They must think it makes them look attractive or something). The woman looked Dutch. They shared one piece of hand luggage. I was immediately curious about them because from the moment they sat down they seemed extremely tense, even hostile. Then I noticed that they weren’t talking to each other. In fact, they didn't exchange a word for the fifteen minutes we were sitting there.

The suspicious thoughts started racing. The first suspicious thought was that they were ISM-ers forced for some reason to fly El Al and feeling decidedly hostile about the wicked Israeli families around them, especially those most dangerous colonizing Israeli babies. The second suspicious thought was straight out of an Entebbe Rescue movie. She was Baader-Meinhof and he was PLO and they would take over the plane once it was airborne. I wondered should I alert security. I commenced piercing them with my fiercest glare, so they would know I was on to them, and they wouldn't dare try anything. They didn't seem very intimidated by this. Well, it used to work on perverts on crowded buses when I was in my teens. I must be losing my touch.

Then it dawned on me. Pure speculation, of course, but far more likely: They were on their way to Israel to meet his parents and, being tense about this, they had had a big row.

I still decided to keep an eye on them during the flight, just in case. Unfortunately, I wasn't seated anywhere near them and only saw them again in Ben Gurion Airport at the place you get your suitcases. I was busy worrying how I would be able to schlep our suitcase (which, strangely, was now far heavier than on the way out to Holland) off the conveyor belt without swinging it at someone and causing grievous bodily harm. Even though I was thus preoccupied and continuously warning Eldest to keep away from me because I was all psyched up to fully implement my meager muscle power for the serious mission I was facing, and therefore dangerous, I happened to notice the man right on the other side of the conveyor belt. He was chatting and laughing excitedly with someone I couldn't see, probably the woman. All the tension had disappeared from his face.

Ah, that's nice, I thought, they must have kissed and made up during the flight.

Or maybe he was just nervous of flying, like Bish, and now he was relieved that his ordeal was over.

posted by Imshin 11:47

I'm ba-a-ck
Amsterdam was great. Holland was great. Eldest was great. We had the best hotel and the best weather. We had a great time hopping on trains and off trams and managed to do all the things we had set out to do (and to empty my bank account, as well. The Euro made things very expensive for us).

Because it was the Succot holiday (still is, actually), Holland was full (and I mean full) of Israeli tourists, but not full of other tourists, which was nice (although there were quite a few Japanese as well, but not enough to render the queues at tourist attractions in any way unpleasant). Eldest was very excited with all the Israeli tourists, quite a few of whom were also mothers (or mothers and fathers) with what looked like other twelve year-old daughters also on their Bat Mitzva trips. I'm such a snob. I tried to curb Eldest's enthusiasm about fellow countrymen for fear of being stuck with them ("Shshsh, they don't have to know we're Israeli, too!"). It didn't help. We obviously looked the part. We ended up spending one evening with a very nice Kibbutznik with her Bat Mitzva daughter searching for the shops her friend back home had promised her were open till nine o'clock at night, although I did try to convince her that from what we'd seen, and according to all our guide books, the shops closed at five, six at the latest.

We started our visit in Anne Frank's house, of course. I think I embarrassed Eldest because I got very emotional, but she made light of it by saying it didn’t matter because she didn't know anyone anyway. She's so sweet.

I like the way Amsterdam, unlike other places, hasn't tried to hide, ignore or bury its rich Jewish history or what happened to make the Jews disappear. In every tour guide, and tourist map you'll find the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Historical Museum prominently pointed out. But that seems to be the thing with Amsterdam. It doesn't pretend to be something it's not. No games. You want sex for money? Over here, take your pick. You want "recreational" drugs? This way please.

Maybe this matter-of-fact openness is why Israelis love it there, besides the Dutch knowing how to make us feel really welcome. It was nice to receive pamphlets in Hebrew at quite a few tourist attractions (and not just at Jewish-y ones). How many cities in Western Europe can boast that, these days? Not anywhere in Britain, that's for sure. (Via Melanie Phillips. Thank you, again, Dad, for taking me away from that country before I was old enough to experience or understand any of that sort of stuff. )

One lady in the market I bought some clothes from, asked me if we were not scared, living in Israel. After answering (same sort of stuff you can read here), I pointed out that I found it strange to be going into crowded tourist attractions in Holland and no one was checking anyone's bags. Just the day before, we had been standing in a very long queue for a ride in the Efteling amusement park (I suffer from very bad motion sickness, this was not one of my best days in Holland. Luckily Eldest is as terrified of roller coasters as I am made nauseous by them, so I managed to get through the day without actually losing any of my meals before they were fully digested), when it suddenly crossed my mind how easy it would be to just come along with a machine gun, open fire and kill dozens of us. Then I realized that there was nothing to actually prevent anyone from entering the park armed with such a weapon. Not to mention an easy-to-conceal explosives belt, which could have killed hundreds in such a queue. Holland is so liberal, I doubt it would be a real problem to purchase such equipment locally. So I told the lady in the market I hoped they would never need to have to check people at the entrance to places. She said they already do, in discotheques, but that was because of the Moroccans, whom, she said, tend to be aggressive. You mean violent? I asked. She meant violent.

We didn't see or hear any news while we were there, and Eldest didn't allow me to go into any Internet cafes (She wouldn't let me go to the meditation room in Schiphol airport either. Meanie. I was very excited about there being a meditation room there).

So it was only on the plane, where they gave me Maariv to read, that I first heard about this Geneva Agreement thing. From what I've managed to work out, it's the Beilinim*, forgetting once again that they lost the elections by an extremely large margin and therefore represent only a small minority of Israelis, having the gall to cut deals with Palestinians, although they have no mandate to do so whatsoever. It seems I'm not the only one incensed by this. According to yesterday’s Yediot Aharonot, an opinion poll by Mina Tzemach and the Dahaf Institute reveals that 59% of Israelis are opposed to the Geneva agreement and 69% of Israelis feel that Israelis cannot negotiate an agreement with Palestinians without the approval of the government (Hebrew link).

* Beilinim = A group of people who happen to be on the left of the Israeli political map, one of them being, as always, MK (Dr.) Yossi Beilin, who believe, on the whole, that just because Arafat and his subordinates have lied and cheated repeatedly, and continue to do so, doesn't necessarily make them unsuitable negotiating partners.

Moreover, the Beilinim seem to believe that whoever doesn't see things as they do is probably either too deranged or too stupid to have a viewpoint. The democratic vote of such a person, therefore, doesn't mean much in their eyes, or so it seems. The Beilinim lost the support of the Israeli public following the colossal failure of Oslo and their rigid refusal to internalize or accept this. These people have no right to be cutting deals in our name. But that's not how they see things.

Still, it's nice to be home.

Update: OK, so I've read this post again three times and I fail to see any insightful observations. But thank you for saying so anyway, Jonathan.

posted by Imshin 15:19

home