Here's a picture of the sunset on Friday evening from my room, on the 13th floor in Beer Sheva.
Shavua tov.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Sunset from my window
Very busy in school, reading about different theories on the decline of the Ottoman empire, preparing a book review about the 1956 Suez Crisis, studying for a quiz in Arabic (we've finally learned all the letters!), and preparing for a class on Mizrachim in Israel (which is distinct from Sepharadim--if you're interested, write me an email after Wednesday's class and we can discuss).
Here's a picture of the sunset on Friday evening from my room, on the 13th floor in Beer Sheva.
Shavua tov.
Here's a picture of the sunset on Friday evening from my room, on the 13th floor in Beer Sheva.
Shavua tov.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Colonialism? Miluim! Hummers.
We still don't have internet at our apartment, so it makes it difficult to blog as often as I want. But I try!
Classes are going great. Really interesting so far. Besides Arabic which I really like, I find the class on "Israel/Palestine: Politics of Land and Identity" to be the most interesting. Recently, we have read and discussed about the development of nationalism and colonialism. We will then go on to examine its impact in different countries, specifically Israel/Palestine.
From having a better understanding of Colonialism, this has led me to think: Am I an colonialist for having made aliyah? For supporting Zionism which "evicted" (this word is debatable) and exploited Arabs, from the Balfour Declaration of 1917 until today with Jewish settlements past the Green Line, in occupied territory?
Oded is now doing Miluim; his military reserve duty. I went to go visit him this weekend. He and his fellow platoon are located in Alei Zahav, a Jewish settlement, past the Green Line, and thus technically in the Occupied Territories. He and his fellow soldiers guard this settlement from the surrounding Arab villages. They drive around in Hummers and sit in pillboxes and basically do lots of guarding and (unfortunately) cigarette-smoking.
Or can I see things more simply--I am just a person who likes this country and wanted to be a part of it, and it's not quite as complicated, since I did not come in 1948? There are a lot of angles here, and this is very complicated.
I am not sure what the answer is. I am not some super left-winger that says Zionism is apartheid, but one must recognize, as I realized a few months ago: Jews came to Palestine in the late 1880s and Arabs were definitely here. It was not an empty land.
The hard part is: what is the solution now?
Classes are going great. Really interesting so far. Besides Arabic which I really like, I find the class on "Israel/Palestine: Politics of Land and Identity" to be the most interesting. Recently, we have read and discussed about the development of nationalism and colonialism. We will then go on to examine its impact in different countries, specifically Israel/Palestine.
From having a better understanding of Colonialism, this has led me to think: Am I an colonialist for having made aliyah? For supporting Zionism which "evicted" (this word is debatable) and exploited Arabs, from the Balfour Declaration of 1917 until today with Jewish settlements past the Green Line, in occupied territory?
Oded is now doing Miluim; his military reserve duty. I went to go visit him this weekend. He and his fellow platoon are located in Alei Zahav, a Jewish settlement, past the Green Line, and thus technically in the Occupied Territories. He and his fellow soldiers guard this settlement from the surrounding Arab villages. They drive around in Hummers and sit in pillboxes and basically do lots of guarding and (unfortunately) cigarette-smoking.
Or can I see things more simply--I am just a person who likes this country and wanted to be a part of it, and it's not quite as complicated, since I did not come in 1948? There are a lot of angles here, and this is very complicated.
I am not sure what the answer is. I am not some super left-winger that says Zionism is apartheid, but one must recognize, as I realized a few months ago: Jews came to Palestine in the late 1880s and Arabs were definitely here. It was not an empty land.
The hard part is: what is the solution now?
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