A bounty on our heads

Originally uploaded by sarandkel.

{posted by Kelli}

UNITED IN FAITH
Great news—at last—from the region! In an unprecedented move, heads of the world’s three great, monotheistic religions have come together, here in the heartland of the world’s three great, monotheistic religions, to raise a united cry. Not against the bombs raining down on Lebanon, nor the rockets landing on Israelis, nor the recent kidnappings of soldiers. Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders have raised their voices as one against . . . gays???

We have just learned that we’re worth $4500—each! Hundreds of leaflets from the “Red Arm of Salvation” were distributed in the mailboxes of Jerusalem’s orthodox neighborhoods recently, offering 20,000 shekels to anyone who “will cause the death of one of the Sodom and Gomorrah people.” The flyers give detailed instructions on how to prepare for next month’s World Pride march by making Molotov cocktails, dubbed a “Schlissel Special” in honor of the haredi guy currently in jail for 12 years for stabbing three people in Jerusalem’s local Pride march last year.

The first World Pride was in Rome in 2000, and if you’re thinking World Pride in Jerusalem sounds familiar, it’s because it was originally scheduled for last year but happened to coincide with the disengagement from Gaza, so it was postponed to this year. It’s like the city-wide Pride festivals you see in the states and other countries, only on an international scale and lasting a week. The schedule is set with seminars and workshops on GLBT health, youth empowerment activities (including a trip to talk to Knesset members), a religious conference with supportive clergy of the three faiths, and the big march on Aug. 10.

Will we be there? You bet your Molotov cocktail we will—if it happens, that is. It’s still up in the air as to whether or not the police will grant a march permit, which either way means Supreme Court involvement with a suit from either the ultra-religious camp or the free speech camp. The topic is topping many Knesset meetings--incredulously, even during war time--with one of the Arab parties’ leaders stating it just isn’t relevant to his constituency since gay Muslims don’t exist, which reportedly caused a ripple of laughter in the room. The city has been of no help, granting World Pride the customary funds allotted to cultural events only after being forced to do so by the Supreme Court. The mayor, Jerusalem’s first ultra-orthodox one, loudly and regularly warns men on his cabinet not to walk up behind one of his cabinet members, the gay one, for fear of what might happen—you know, approaching the gay guy from behind.

WHY I’M TICKED OFF
In similarly disturbing, though not as bizarre news, things between Israel and Lebanon continue to escalate. It has cooled off a bit in Gaza, what with the distraction provided in Lebanon, rather like how crime in the US drops dramatically every year on Superbowl Sunday (except for domestic violence, which rises). Perhaps my response is like going through Kubler-Ross’ stages of grief; I’m somewhere between leaving denial and entering anger.

Top 10 reasons why I’m ticked off:
1. people forget when and why Hezbollah was created—in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that lasted 18 years
2. Hezbollah shares Hamas’ perspective that human life is for sacrificing, and thus launches rockets out of civilians’ homes, which leads Israel to bomb civilians’ homes
3. Hezbollah, which holds 14 of Lebanon’s 128 parliamentary seats, really does want Israel to disappear entirely
4. Israel insists on trying to maintain a Jewish majority in the country no matter the cost
5. I have to keep altering the itineraries for our friends’ visits in Sept. and Oct., each day carving out more and more of the northern region (my favorite area)
6. I can no longer treat Israel as my playground . . . and feel uncomfortable with the fact that I ever did
7. we two have the privilege of leaving whenever it gets too “hot” for us, while most Lebanese and many Israelis don’t have that option
8. “increased security” in Jerusalem translates into the bus guard carefully scrutinizing me as I boarded recently, wearing a top with a flower design embroidered by a Palestinian women’s cooperative
9. only 500 people showed up for an anti-war rally in Tel Aviv, and it was barely mentioned in the press
10. some assume our staying here is a kind of statement of Zionist commitment when it’s anything but

Which brings us to the question, why are we still here? Life continues to be completely normal in Jerusalem and most of the country, and as long as it stays that way, we intend to stay until some time in Nov. when all our planned activities here are finished. If we feel unsafe, we will leave earlier. Honestly, our US choices of “home” don’t look so appealing right now. Did you hear about the random chainsaw attacks on the NY subway? Or about DC’s recent 14% jump in crimes in neighborhoods like ours, prompting the chief of police to declare a “crime state of emergency”?

CULTURAL EXPLOSION CONTINUES
While the north part of the country is all but shutting down, summer in Jerusalem still means lots of interesting happenings. The other night I walked home from Hebrew class and passed four simultaneous, outdoor events within two blocks of each other. The old train station had an open-air showing of “The Chronicles of Narnia” (captioned in Hebrew), there was a jazz performance on the roof of a conference center, an orthodox concert was happening in Liberty Bell Gardens, and an Israeli band played Irish gigs on a plaza overlooking the Old City. Sarah and I ended up meeting at the Irish concert.

Sadly, the film festival is over. A correction: the 11 venues showed 290 films in all, not 190 as was printed earlier. One of my favorites was a story about what happened when an Israeli filmmaker taught a filmmaking class to black Bedouin women. It changed my image of Bedouin people immensely; they’re not all desert tent-dwelling, nomadic goat-herders, although this is the majority. These women live in a Bedouin town comprised of “whites” (Bedouins of Arab descent, not at all what the west would consider white) and “blacks” (Bedouins from African descent, whose mannerisms are remarkably similar to African-Americans’). During a class assignment to interview family elders, the women discovered that their ancestors, rather than coming of their own free will as had been believed, were brought from Zanzibar to the Middle East by Arab slave traders during the same time as the slave trade was flourishing in the Americas. It was amazing to witness these people discovering their secret history, one that had been unknown to the outside world as well. To top it off, some 25 black Bedouins from the movie and the town where it was filmed were present and honored after the film ended.

In the final days of the festival, I saw some good shorts made by Israelis of all stripes; a French film uncovering the police and government cover-up of the October 1961 killings of Algerians in Paris; and for fun, a delightful, fictional piece about a kids’ summer camp in France. I definitely recommend “The Film Class” and “Those Happy Days” if you ever get the chance. We don’t recommend “Darkon,” the painfully long documentary on a group of people meeting every two weeks in various forests in Maryland for their Lord of the Rings-like, role-playing game.

ON A FRIVOLOUS NOTE
The photo above illustrates what is referred to as “frippie” fashion, a term created from the crash of “frum,” Yiddish for “religious life,” and “hippie” styles. The religious influence offers long, loose, layered pieces while the hippie part brings mix ‘n match casualness to it. At home we two virtually never dress similar to each other, but when it comes to Israeli fashion we both fell for the frippie style here years ago.

We’ll keep you regularly posted as things continue to progress/regress. Before everything broke out, our weekly readership was averaging 160 hits, half of them unique; it’s higher now. I know some of you have blogs with that many readers in one day, while others are probably wondering what “unique hits” are.
Thanks for reading and for all the concerned e-mails!