An international film festival? In Jerusalem? In July?
Yes, please!
In other news, my friend, Dan, is moving to Jerusalem next week. I helped him out yesterday by wandering over toward his future apartment in West Jerusalem and paying his rent in shekels to ensure he'll have a home in a few days.
I'm always stunned by the differences between East and West Jerusalem. East Jerusalem (predominately inhabited by Palestinian Arabs...and BYU students) looks a little worn around the edges, you know? A little shabby. Parts of West Jerusalem (dominated by Israeli Jews), on the other hand, is generally modern and clean. The part of town where Dan is moving reminds me a little of Europe.
The contrast between these parts of the city reminds me of a really good Arabic class the other day. True, we didn't learn that many words and phrases, but it was interesting to hear our teacher's experience with international travel.
Ayman, our Arabic instructor and a Palestinian Arab with Israeli citizenship, told us that a while back he wanted to take his family to Egypt so his children could hear the Arabic language and see the Arab culture there so they could feel proud of their identity as Arabs. Once they got to the airport in Tel Aviv, however, their luggage was searched for three hours while Israeli Jews easily bypassed security.
When airport security concluded their search of Ayman's baggage, they had to perform a body search.
"Okay," Ayman said, "I want my sons to come with me."
Security told him that it wasn't necessary that his children accompany him, but Ayman angrily protested. "No, it is necessary that my sons see you search me so that they know that Israel is not their country, and that it will never be their country."
He then swore at the security officers and was given a slip labeling him as 'a problematic passenger.' "Okay, no problem," Ayman said.
Then they got to Egypt. Ayman, his wife, and his children joined a tour group when they arrived, and he was surprised to see an armed guard on the bus with them.
"Why is there a guard?" Ayman asked the guide.
"It's for you. It's because you are an Israeli," the guide responded.
"What? I am not Israeli, I don't need a guard. I'm an Arab."
"You have an Israeli passport. You get a guard."
So Ayman had to tour around with this armed guard following him everywhere. At the pyramids, the Egyptian children whispered to each other:
"Who is that? It is a movie star?"
"No, no. He is an Israeli."
Then, at a museum where Arabs got a discount on admission, Ayman went to the ticket office and said, "Five tickets, please."
The museum worker looked at him and said, "Passport, please."
Ayman handed over his passport. The worker said to him, "That will be $100."
"What? But I am an Arab."
"No, you have an Israeli passport. You are an Israeli, and it's $20 each for Israelis."
In other words, Arab Israeli citizens are really men and women without a country. They're 'Palestinians' in Israel, and 'Israelis' everywhere else.
Yikes.
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