Middle East – Page 7 – GW Blogs from Abroad

A Brief History of Modern Zionism

AdminMarch 21, 2013December 14, 2018

Through a couple of my classes, namely Contemporary Israel and Arab-Israeli-Relations, I've been learning quite a bit about early zionism and the build-up of the Israeli state. I find it fascinating, and so relevant to the state today, that I wanted to give a little summary of what "Zionism" is. The basic definition is a sense of nationalism of the Jewish people, much like French Nationalism or Australian Nationalism. One of the differences between Jewish Nationalism and French Nationalism is that, for example, the area known as France is filled with French people, who have a language, culture, history, and set of traditions. For centuries, Jewish People (with their own language, culture, history, and traditions) did not have an area to fill, and over the past century many things have led to a return of many Jews to the same place, in essence to rebuild the location to put the nation. This little history is not going to cover nearly everything that is important, it's just a summary of what I connect to the most. ...continue reading "A Brief History of Modern Zionism"

How To Clean An Israeli House

AdminMarch 19, 2013December 14, 2018

By Adar

As strange as it may seem, basic cleaning customs are not always intuitive. I'm used to my swiffer, thanks very much. But in our apartment we have a cleaning rotation, and last night was my first time cleaning the floor. This involves several processes and quite a few tools. First is sweeping with a normal broom. Then, you fill up a bucket with soapy water and attach a large piece of felt-ish cloth to the end of a squeegie-ish thing that also looks like a quasi-broom. Then you pour the water on the floor and start mopping it up. Where does it go? Downstairs, you open the front door and sweep the water outside. Upstairs, each unit has a drain somewhere that you guide the dirty water to. When I cleaned my room this way, I had not yet learned the mop-cloth-attachment deal so I was just sweeping water into the drain in my bathroom. It took about sixteen hours to completely drain. And some of these drains are hidden in closets down the hall, which I find a little weird. But these drains are all over the place, and you can even buy little replacement covers that are decorated and pretty. ...continue reading "How To Clean An Israeli House"

The Tribe in the Valley

AdminMarch 17, 2013December 14, 2018

By ahblackwell

As I ducked to slide under the rusted barbed wire that Ahmed held taut a few feet above the ground, my boot slipped in the mud, soft from rain, and I felt the nylon of my backpack catch on one of the reddish-brown barbs. He pulled me free, and I continued to follow my new host father over fields and brooks and several other fences until we reached our new home. Ahmed, tall and slender with tanned smiling cheeks, which peeked out from behind a bushy beard and a green wool cap, called out to Zahra and Miriam as we approached the grey concrete house that stood on a bouldery landscape surrounded by gardens and grazing animals. Zahra, our host mother, emerged from the house first, her head scarf tied up behind her ears, revealing her face and neck which were soft and brown from years of work and wear in the sun. She pulled me in to an embrace and gave me the customary kiss on each cheek to say hello. Miriam repeated the gesture and immediately made it clear that, as our eighteen-year-old host sister, we would be spending the majority of our week with her. After a brief lunch full of small-talk in Darija (the Moroccan dialect of Arabic) and some French - Ahmed, after only completing an eighth-grade education, can speak perfect French - Miriam took us on a tour of the house and its surrounding grounds. Their house - “daar,” in Darija - consists of four enclosed rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom (complete with Turkish toilet), and a courtyard area that connects each of the sections of the house. It is surrounded by a beautiful fenced-in back yard where the chickens are free to roam, several enclosed fields for the cows and sheep to graze, a fairy-tale garden, and rolling hills and babbling brooks that descend into the valley, below. The family lives on the outskirts of Ait-Ouahi, a rural Amazigh village that settled as a tribe about 30 kilometers from modern-day Oulmes, a very small town in the Middle Atlas Mountains. Julia, Alex, and I lived with the family for the week and enjoyed their home and hospitality while we experienced village life in Morocco with our classmates. ...continue reading "The Tribe in the Valley"

“Folks, It’s Erev Shabbat”

AdminMarch 15, 2013December 14, 2018

By Adar

I was on one of the last mid-friday buses in Tel Aviv before they stop running for Shabbat, coming from the beach, so it was extremely crowded. I was lucky to get a seat, and quite comfortable, but not everyone on the bus was quite so at ease. A teenager, not more than sixteen or seventeen, and an older man, probably about seventy, who were sitting a few seats away from each other, started arguing. Who knows what about. Maybe the teenager was hitting the window and the older man told him to stop. I don't know. But it escalated so rapidly that within about a minute, they were flying insults toward one another that had absolutely nothing to do with anything. It was very colorful language, most of which I unfortunately understood, and I think everyone around was shocked by how ridiculous it had become so quickly. The teenager's friends told him to let it go, and others told the older man to give it a rest as well. But they didn't. Soon, many more people were involved, telling the two to cut it out, and the hot-blooded teenager was actually being forcibly held back by his friends because he was ready to start punching the older man. Over what? They were complete strangers, it was absolutely ridiculous. The entire bus was buzzing, and I was surprised that the driver didn't kick the two off the bus -- he would have within the first two minutes in the US. After quite a stir, with shouts coming from all over, the driver says into the microphone, "Hevre, it's erev shabbat" (Friends, it's the sabbath this evening). The bus calmed down, the two sat back down. A handful of non-religious guys (I don't think anyone on the bus was particularly religious) started singing the Kaddish (Shabbat prayer). Soon some other guys were jokingly singing Passover songs and the whole ordeal died down. ...continue reading "“Folks, It’s Erev Shabbat”"

Morocco of Many Faces

AdminMarch 11, 2013December 14, 2018

By ahblackwell

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have traveled across Morocco on several different excursions. Throughout my excursions, I learned that the country’s landscape is not only beautiful, it is incredibly diverse. My first big trip with my program was our southern excursion. We left the big-city coast of Rabat and headed southeast for Azrou, a small city that sits at the base of the Middle Atlas Mountains. The mountains are one of three main mountain ranges in Morocco, stretching throughout the middle and low-eastern portion of the country. After lunch in Azrou, a delicious and huge lunch (as usual) in a swanky restaurant surrounded by rolling green hills and fresh crisp air, we headed for Midelt, a very small town situated in a valley in the Middle Atlas. We reached Midelt around 5:00pm and used the rest of our available sunlight to explore the area surrounding our hotel, which consisted of a muddy plain that stretched flat and expansive until it jutted straight upward into a dark and snowcapped mountain. We walked out into the plain and watched the sun set standing next to a mud-and-grass farm with donkeys and a friendly puppy named “Rosa” as our companions. ...continue reading "Morocco of Many Faces"

One of Us

AdminMarch 7, 2013December 14, 2018

By Adar

Today I went to a restaurant with an Israeli, who afterwards posed an uncomfortable question for me. She asked, "Do you know how to tell whether he was Arab or Jewish?". Arabs are people who speak Arabic as their native language, so there can technically be Arabs of all backgrounds. But the question of can you be Jewish and Arab is one not based on technicality, but based on self-identity and group-identity. As far as I've been able to discern, and will discuss with some very broad generalizations, most Jews that come from Arab-speaking countries, such as Iraq, Morocco, Yemen, etc. do not consider themselves Arab. They have not been able to find a place within their local Arab communities, and therefore consider themselves separate. This may or may not be the case with Jews descended from European backgrounds, who for centuries were fairly well assimilated into their communities (until they were thrown out of many). Whether or not someone can be both Arab and Jewish is a question I'm very interested in, because I believe it is near the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. If the answer is no, then it's potentially easy to tell "whom is against whom". But if the answer is yes, it thoroughly blurs the lines. ...continue reading "One of Us"

Springtime

AdminMarch 7, 2013December 14, 2018

By Adar

Like gophers peeking out of their holes, The Locals have started to sense the end of winter. With the official beginning of the new semester this week (I know, those at GW are just now finishing midterms), there've been several changes with the behavior of my Israeli counterparts. First off, there are a lot more of them. During finals month, apparently everyone was either holed up in their rooms or at their parents' houses. Now, the quad is filled, and the halls are crowded. It actually feels like the 17,000 people who supposedly attend Haifa University actually do. And second, all sorts of festivities have started. Every Wednesday starting this week, there is a well-known band that comes to perform on our quad at noon, and the area is packed not only with students and faculty, but with local vendors and artists who are selling clothes, jewelry, music, and paintings. It's quite the atmosphere. ...continue reading "Springtime"

Pragmatism is key

AdminMarch 6, 2013December 14, 2018

By mashod93

Teaching at the Oromo center the past couple of weeks has posed some challenges for my fellow volunteer and I. We have been having a hard time dealing not only with the language barrier of the people of the Oromo region and us but also with the cultural differences. As we learned in our first week through our inter-cultural learning course, the western and eastern worlds hold very different values. Being from the west and leading a more monochronic lifestyle (very linear, valuing timeliness and order) than in the east, timeliness is something I am used to being able to depend on. The refugees at the Oromo center come from a very collectivist culture and lead a more polychronic lifestyle, which makes timeliness not a priority for them. While I try to respect our cultural differences and allow for everyday interferences in our schedule for the center, lateness is very frustrating when I already can only afford six hours a week. They are motivated students, but without work or families to keep them busy, I can imagine it is hard to pass up social time with friends. Being on time and making class a greater priority than football practice everyday is something the students and I are trying to work on. ...continue reading "Pragmatism is key"

Secularism and Sufis

AdminMarch 4, 2013December 14, 2018

By ahblackwell

This past week, our focus in class was on religion. Our discussions were predominantly centered around women and their position in Islam, but topics also included Sharia’ Law and some Islamic history. We had one of our most productive and interesting sessions of the semester, so far, on Thursday when about ten or so students from Mohammad V University joined us. Normally our class is so big that it is difficult to approach any kind of conclusion or main point during group discussions. We also usually hold our discussion amongst ourselves (all American students) and our professors, without including much of a true Moroccan perspective. For our discussion on Thursday, which was focused on secularism and religion in each of our own countries, we were broken into much smaller groups, each of which included several of the Moroccan students who had joined us. ...continue reading "Secularism and Sufis"

Anthem

AdminMarch 4, 2013

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation, under God, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.

These words, the pledge of allegiance which is engrained into every kindergartener's brani, have been the source of immense controversy in schools and courts in the United States. Who's God exactly are we talking about? Does this indoctrinate a certain kind of idea too much and too early?

In one of my classes, Israel: Conflicts and Common Ground, we've started exploring current issues in Israeli society that are hot-spots for arguments. We started with HaTikva, The Hope, the national anthem of the state of Israel. Here is the translation of the lyrics: ...continue reading "Anthem"