Since I came back from Palestine in November I've been looking for a way to explain the situation to people. Israel. Palestine. Middle Eastern climates-ecological and political-are about as tricky as it gets.
While I was there a friend of mine from Denmark showed me a pretty funny link to a show about an irreverent brit who travels through the region. He sees Israel, Palestine and Jordan: he saw all the countries we were able to visit. His adventure is comical an certainly worth seeing (perhaps even before reading the rest of this blog).
As comedians, it's obvious that the creators of this show didn't have political implications in mind. The paranoia promoted by the staged kidnapping and the flippant analysis of the wailing wall were both quite lacking-especially in a context where empathetic understanding is so gravely needed.
However, this does serve as a decent introduction for those who know very little about the region. Accessible and-I hesitantly admit-pretty damn funny, this is worth seeing. But I hope you do notice a few things as you watch it: The protagonist is most bothered by the barrier wall; you don't see any more Israelis after the he crosses the wall and almost no Palestinians before. This barrier is central to the conflict: it allows for the segregation and apartheid of Palestinians by Israel. Almost more importantly to the peace process, it keeps Israelis out of Palestine. When you don't know your neighbor, it's easy to vilify them.
Watch the clip, ask some questions, find out the answers. Hopefully I can help.
While I was there a friend of mine from Denmark showed me a pretty funny link to a show about an irreverent brit who travels through the region. He sees Israel, Palestine and Jordan: he saw all the countries we were able to visit. His adventure is comical an certainly worth seeing (perhaps even before reading the rest of this blog).
As comedians, it's obvious that the creators of this show didn't have political implications in mind. The paranoia promoted by the staged kidnapping and the flippant analysis of the wailing wall were both quite lacking-especially in a context where empathetic understanding is so gravely needed.
However, this does serve as a decent introduction for those who know very little about the region. Accessible and-I hesitantly admit-pretty damn funny, this is worth seeing. But I hope you do notice a few things as you watch it: The protagonist is most bothered by the barrier wall; you don't see any more Israelis after the he crosses the wall and almost no Palestinians before. This barrier is central to the conflict: it allows for the segregation and apartheid of Palestinians by Israel. Almost more importantly to the peace process, it keeps Israelis out of Palestine. When you don't know your neighbor, it's easy to vilify them.
Watch the clip, ask some questions, find out the answers. Hopefully I can help.
