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Jewish World Review August 8, 2002/ 30 Menachem-Av, 5762
Robert Leiter
Maybe they should change their name to "Glamoyr"
"Will Violence Make Them Enemies?" appears in the August issue, and is an
attempt by Sheila Weller, a senior contributing editor for the magazine, to
look at the situation through a very specific lens: the friendship of a
Palestinian woman and an Israeli woman who grew up together in Neve
Shalom/Wahat al-Salam.
Both names mean "oasis of peace," and as the author states, this village is
the only one in Israel "where Palestinians and Israelis live together in
cooperative peace." The experiment in communal living began in 1972 and
marked a change in general Israeli life, since most Arabs and Jews prefer to
live in separate cities and towns. The village is located midway between
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Shireen Najjar, the Palestinian, was born in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam; Shai
Kremer came there at age 2. They "lived almost like sisters," and despite
the fact that Kremer thinks the conflict does terrible things ("At 18, we
become killing machines - soldiers or terrorists."), it would seem that they
check in with one another after every tragedy.
Still, this checking in appears to consist of little more than Najjar ranting
about the barbarity of the Israelis and Kremer silently acquiescing. Najjar
offers what seems the obligatory condemnation of suicide bombings, then goes
on to justify them as the only avenue open to such an oppressed people.
Kremer appears to agree.
So, despite its earnestness, the article has a number of problems, starting
with a thumbnail and rather skewed history of Zionism. Weller writes that
the strict self-segregation that rules everywhere in Israel except Neve
Shalom/Wahat al-Salam "reflects the ongoing conflicts in Israel."
"In 1947," the author continues, "the United Nations partitioned the region
of Palestine into two countries: The larger one would be the Jewish state
for which a group of European Jews (called Zionists) had lobbied since the
end of the 19th century and to which many of the survivors of the Nazi
Holocaust would emigrate after being liberated from the concentration camps.
The smaller country would be Palestine."
Anyone interested in seeing how wrong all that is should read a standard
history of Zionism, even one with a Labor Party bias.
But the larger problem is that Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a much too
specialized focus to tell this complex story. There are some powerful and
well-rendered moments in the article - the discussion between the two
families as they wait out a Scud attack during the Persian Gulf war, for one
- but the unreality of the place, and the general liberal bias of the
Kremers, makes this story only a tiny facet of the whole picture.
More worrisome is that some readers of the magazine might base their entire
perception of the conflict on this unrealistic patch of land, and not delve
more deeply into the ironies, contradictions and tragedies of life in Israel
today. Perhaps that's too much to ask, but otherwise stories like these,
which seek to tap into topical themes, are fraught with their own kind of
danger.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
What does it mean when a major fashion magazine like Glamour turns its
attention to one of the most significant and seemingly intractable problems
in the world today - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Has some corner been
turned? Or is this just a bid for topicality or a bit of seriousness to
balance the fluff?
JWR contributor Robert Leiter is Literary Editor for the Jewish Exponent in
Philadelphia. Comment by clicking here.