12.7.06

Incomprehensible

It is not only policy. It is a whole state of racist fears, for fears, as well, can be racist. I remember when Eva told us how Emmanuel- who himself is of Caribbean origin, would take her out of a pub when he sees someone with a Middle Eastern look entering. We all thought that was racist.
When a woman calls he husband, because an Arab took the same bus she’s on, or when a man justifies that students go to yeshivas, and it is scary when Arab workers board their buses, that is racism inherent in a society.
When it is taken for granted that the Shin Bet has three security classifications for airline passengers: Jewish, Foreign and Arab, and when Arab passenger require the presence of more sophisticated x-ray scanning devices at airports, that’s racism inherent in institution.
When a state closes down the border at Rafah, allowing four people to die in the process, that is simply a state gone wildly mad.
This is Israel.
You can’t argue much with insanity. But maybe if you leave so many questions lingering out there, people might see them as an indication to that insanity. What happens in Palestine is different to anything that happens anywhere else. It is just incomprehensible. Where on earth would you find people who know what a curfew is like, or an air strike or walking 20 km in the mountain to circumvent Huwara roadblock and arrive exactly 20 meters away from where you left to take a cab to Ramallah, or 120,000 workers losing their jobs overnight, or not being able to visit your family in Gaza, or going to school and arriving home in an ambulance to mourning parents, or destroying your strawberry crops because it rots at the security checks, or receiving a phone call, like what happened to Mustapha, from your mother after your father has been killed preparing his coffee by shell that blasted through their kitchen? It is incomprehensible.

3 comments:

elena said...

what about Gipsies? here in Italy we have so many stereotypes about them and nearly everybody thinks they all are bad, dirty, thieves... and when you meet them (of course, you have to be "good" in recognized them) you protect your bag and your kids, you controle everything and you first suspect them for everything that can happen.... well, for sure, it's not the same as in Israel but sometimes I think how much is "incomprehensible" that even people that I supposed to be educated and "open mind" can talk about Gipsies only using stereotypes and prejudges....

Ned said...

Gypsies too, Elena. Stereotypes exist everywhere, don't they? they only stop you from seeing the other person as he is, without attaching all sorts of other labels to him.

anaïs said...

Hi there, nice blog, I've learned a lot by reading it.
Anais