19-08-05

Hey There Folks,

I figured I'd let you know about what I did this week.

First, let me start by saying that I transcribed a lecture given by a guy named Scott Leckie (if you google him, you can read his bio...he founded COHRE, which I can't remember what that stands for...why do people have bios online? So people will hire them? Should we all get one? What would your's say?). Okay, focus...the lecture will eventually find its way onto Zochrot's website, as a PDF file because of its great length. It was about the concepts of Restitution and Return. The talk was given on May 04 - 05, here in Tel Aviv; so it is current and very fascinating. I really enjoyed transcribing it and making it flow as a written document (basic editing).

The ideas of Restitution and Return are relatively new. I am pretty sure that the idea of Return is much newer than Restitution. Here's my from-memory version of the essence of what Scott had to say. Okay, there's this UN body, called UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) that works with refugees all around the world. They help them deal with the trauma of being a refugee; they assist in finding a resolution, which typically has been a third-country (although the idea of Return is gaining speed). UNHCR has not been dealing with Return because they have been finding new places for refugees to live and have not been trying to return them (for instance, the Chilean refugees went to Europe, not back to Chile). But, UNHCR doestn' touch Palestinians with a ten foot pole. They are largely funded by America...but I'm not sure the actual reasons.

Instead, the UN has set up a unique body to take care of the needs of Palestinians; they are called UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), and are specifically for Palestinian AID. But, for whatever reason, they only provide "programs" for Palestinians. The agency that provides "protection" for Palestinians is called UNCCP (U N Conciliation Commission for Palestine). Their deal is that they DON'T provide any protection for Palestinians, which is why no International Institution seems to care about what is happening to the people on a daily basis: because "The UNCCP are in charge, so leave them to it". The reason why UNCCP doesn't do anything is because the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not resolved, yet, so they are not doing anything. I know that sounds insane; but that's what Scott said - he has read their UN annual reports and is very familiar with them. I guess UNCCP is a cushy job for the folks in charge of it, doing nothing and getting paid big bucks.

Scott talked about that for a while, setting the context for how lopsided things are. He mentioned that the Israeli government is offering in between USD$100,000.00 and $400,000.00 PER family to the illegal settlers to withdraw from Gaza. That is crazy, since the settlements and the settlers are illegal, so why would they get paid? And the Palestinians certainly don't get those offers.... He talked about how there is no way this kind of compensation can be sustainable: settlers in the future will use these earlier sums of money as a basement figure - and IF it were a fair world, the sheer amount of Palestinians seeking compensation would drain the coffers of...well, America put up the money for the compensation of these settlers, so, what, add it on the deficit?

That is why the idea of Return is superior: it is less expensive than compensation and brings great satisfaction to people who get to return HOME. He cited many countries where he has witnessed Return work in the last couple of decades, or so, and says it is surprising how receptive people are to move out of a house they are occupying when confronted by the actual home owners, who show deeds, photos, etc. He did say, though, that in Bosnia, he witnessed Bosnians yell and slam the door on Serbs who wanted to return to their homes.

He talked about the origins of return, how it really started out of racism - countries being all "Ve don't vant zem in our land - send zem back." It is interesting to me how something that started out as a negative is actually redeemable and turns out to be a better solution than what was "working" before. He explained how the claim filing works and that these claims do not have expiry dates, so eventually, one day, the Palestinians will be able to file claims and one day, sometime, there will be a reckoning.

Mr Leckie explained in his talk that Jews are the greatest benefitters of Restitution, with many families still getting money from Germany from WWII. I found that interesting. They know very well what it is and how it works. I wonder how these factors affect their vigilance in not humbling themselves before the people they've wronged.

He made a very good point - the point Zochrot tries to make: in order for healing to be experienced or progress to be made, there needs to be recognition of not just Palestinian suffering, but Israel's culpability and guilt. There needs to be an apology. I find it interesting that USA has NEVER apologised for slavery. They have had various bills come before the Senate, but they always get struck down...and people wonder why racism is still a major issue in USA today.

When it comes to Return - or UN Resolution 194 in regards to Palestinians supposed to be able to return - this is one hot potato here. Fear is probably the biggest culprit for the aversion to Return in the mind of the average israeli. They are afraid that 5 million Palestinians are going to show up and reclaim their properties. There were something like 600,000 to 900,000 Palestinians expelled, scared off, or driven from their land in 1948 and about 600,000 in 1967. I suppose the 5 million number comes in with population growth and family expansion (still very much identifying with their particular village - for more about identification with land, see the article on Bir'im's summer camp in my blog - www.darrenbirch.blogspot.com).

Zochrot advocates the Right of Return - which was a hot topic even for Zochrot when originally discussing ideology. Is it feasible? how could it work? What would it look like? Would people want to return after nearly sixty years? How would that affect the Jewish governemnt? Note that there is very much a joining of synagogue, military and state here in Israel. Somewhere along the line, Zionism became associated with the Bible and religion (Theodore Herzl was not a religious man - either were the founding Zionists). i have heard that even at my Hebrew language school, which I start soon, i will get a whole unit on Zionism and their propaganda about turning back the land from swamp and that it was a desolate land and that the Palestinians didn't want to live here anyway and all the whole pack of lies that kids are told ever since kindergarten.

No wonder I have had people tell me those things - they have been told them their whole lives, they actually believe they are true. There is a relatively new group of scholars in Israel / Palestine, however, called the New Historians. They have been researching, writing and attempting to take the lies out of Israel's "history." They are showing what really happened in 1948 and the events leading up to that year - and the systematic propogation of false "history" since then. Really interesting stuff. I'm sure if you cared enough to, you could google "new historians" or Ilan Pappe (who is one of them) and Tanya Reinhart or Edward Said - you can find stuff if you dig.

Okay, enough about that...or you'll all never finish reading this e-mail.
Second on my list: I want to talk about my new bicycle. Hello! I am SO happy about being a bike occupier. I have loved riding around, with the wind in my beard but the smell of urine still in my nose. I bought this bike for like a $125 (CDN) and it is great. it is called "Magic" and it is special: the brakes are reversed. I even found a bell on it, too. It has front-end shocks and some unidentified source clicks when I pedal. I love it! 18 speeds, but it might as well be 6, because I only keep it in the middle setting.

After work today I took my little beauty and rode to the beach for a pre-sunset swim. It was niiice. I haven't gone swimming in the Sea for two weeks because I didn't like the twenty-five minute after-swim walk - but with a bike, it's a breeze.

Third: I went to Haifa this week. It is a beautiful city (of several hundred thousand) that flows from the mountains to the Sea. Mt Carmel is one of the mountains in Haifa - that's where Elijah had his showdown with the prophets of Baal, if you cared... I took the train from Tel Aviv to Haifa, with Raneen from work, Tuesday after work. I went there to meet with some Haifa-branch Zochrot members; see what Zochrot is doing in Haifa and area and discuss how I could help them with video editing.

There is a program that the Haifa chapter is starting called the Testimony project. Because the refugees from 1948 are starting to die off, Zochrot feels it is very important to record (either video if the refugees are willing, or audio) the testimonies and stories of the refugees. There is a hitch: which is the refugees mostly refuse to talk about what happened the THEM. They will talk about the generic history but are very hesitant to tell their stories. I was informed of this on Wednesday. What is also interesting, they will talk about murder and massacres that happened, but will not talk about the rapes that occurred, even in the generic sense. There were many rapes that happened when Israel was establishing itself; but many people refuse to acknowledge them. I suspect it is because of the intimacy of sexuality and the vulnerability that goes along with it and many cultures are not as in touch with their emotionalism as us North Americans who are quick to talk about sexual abuse, etc. Maybe I'm full of crap, too, though; I can only offer what I surmise the reason to be.

So, on Wednesday, Iris, who is a long-time activist (32 years of full-time activism - and yes, she's a little nuts because of it) took me to Acca, or Acco, or Acre - all depending on what history you acknowledge and what language you speak. I believe Acre comes from the Crusades, Acca is Arabic and Acco is the Hebrew utterance. Anyway, Acca was beautiful. Much Arabic architecture still there. We met with a Zochrot memeber, named Wasim (wa-seem) who is Palestinian and a psychologist. He's a muslim guy and his house was incredible; not huge, just beautiful. It had high vaulted ceilings, white walls, beautifully tiled floors, rich-dark wood carving designs and furniture; and a picture of i would guess his Grandfather (unless a Muslim hero) posted on the wall.

We went to OLD ACCA, and I dodged through the fishstalls and tried not to get fish juice splatters on me. I was all nautious from the smell of cigarettes everywhere, the smell of Iris' pippie BO, the bumpy ride in a taxi, and the crazy heat. I was drinking water, but had two cups of coffee in the morning, waiting for Iris to pick me up and taht probably helped speed along the nausea. I was dizzy and nautious all day. It was awful. Instead of staying the extra night, I took the train back home and got back to my own space. I have realised that I am a poor bohemian - I like my own version of structure and my own space and I like things to be clean. So, it was a stretching experience for me, to stay at someone else's house, and be led around a city I knew nothing of by someone else who doesn't share either my version of hygeine or my version of social grace.

where did I stay on Tuesday? I stayed at a Zochrot couple's apartment: Amit and Gabby. they were really cool - I enjoyed them. we talked for five hours straight and before I knew it, it was 1:20 a.m. I don't know, I do'nt want to sound like a wuss, but I really don't like staying at other people's houses; I like sleeping in my own bed and having my own routine. I have my special place for my toothbrush and my pre-bed routine and I sometimes feel like Jack Nicholson's character in As Good As It Gets. makes me laugh, though; I don't lock then relock the door five times - I'm not that bad....

Four: I got my new software this week. Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0. it is the cadillac of video / audio editing software. It is far more than I need, but why not use the best. It was delivered to me, I didn't go out and buy it myself. I have spent only one day with it and can fairly say I can't do anything, yet. It is pretty complicated for someone who has no Adobe experience. It reminds me of Photoshop, which I have WATCHED KP use - so I hope to be able to learn it over the next couple of weeks, months. I told the staff today that as difficult as it is, because I am here for three years (they say "at least") it is a good investment for me to learn it. I can take over the whole realm of video editing. Once I learn the technical part, I am really excited to be able to use creativity and make clips and short-movies that are actually important, not like the years I slutted my body out for Hollywood, standing around in their movies to make them look "real." Really, I don't mean to be so graphic, but my work in the film industry was just another kind of prostitution: I rented my body for another's purposes. Horrible thought, isn't it, Porterhus!

Five: It's 2:20 a.m. Goodnight!

Burro D Block OUT